


To Hell and Back

by thenakednymph



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, BAMF Lance, Cat keith, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Feels, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Lance whump, M/M, Mutual Pining, PINING KEITH, Pining, a spice cabinet if you will, devoted klance, flangst, klance, klangst, paladin magic, pining lance, this is just a random collection of ideas and scenes for things that never panned out, would you like tags for each story individually on the chapters????
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2020-09-28 22:09:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 39,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20433248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenakednymph/pseuds/thenakednymph
Summary: Lance will always have Keith's back. No matter where they have to go.





	1. To Hell and Back

**Author's Note:**

> Double post day because this is already on Tumblr. This may turn into a random collection of bits and pieces. Little thoughts and scenes that never really went anywhere. Like that alternate scene of Shiro finding Lance from Cove.
> 
> If any of you are new you can find me on Tumblr:  
https://freyamaat.tumblr.com/

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't know, I just have a thing for them being the others strength and support and being willing to go through hell for each other. Figuratively or literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Super short  
Implied Klance  
Supportive Klance  
Klance believing in one another

Keith’s breath shakes before he turns and looks at Lance. The light from the magma flowing down the walls on either side of them reflects across his helmet. 

The narrow path of black stone beneath them is slick like obsidian, a layer of ash constantly falling through the air. 

Lance takes his eyes from the narrow passage gaping ahead of them. The heat makes the air ripple around them, pressing against him through the armor. 

He smiles at Keith, extending his hand between them. 

“To hell and back?” he asks softly. 

Something in Keith’s chest settles at the look in Lance’s eyes, questioning but unafraid so long as Keith is with him. 

The anxiety creeping up Keith’s neck abates, knowing he doesn’t have to go in alone. He smiles back, shifting his bayard to grasp Lance’s forearm tightly with a loud clap. He gives a sharp nod. 

“To hell and back.” 


	2. Resonance- Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lance's quintessence aligns with Blue's he becomes her avatar, going to seek out the other members of his pride. After all, it's been 10,000 years since they were last able to be with one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The paladins as cats basically. There's a lot of touching and affection between them all. The only ones I intended to be romantic were Keith and Lance. Everything else is platonic, just wanted to put that out there for those of you who might be uncomfortable with certain ship dynamics. There are some things that are personally squick for me and though they could be interpreted a certain way, it was not intentional. 
> 
> There is more of this AU coming. 
> 
> I am also a big fan of astral lions manifesting as big cuddly cats, the concept of the paladins as the avatars of their lions, and Team Voltron cuddle piles.
> 
> ~
> 
> Tags:  
Cuddles  
Paladin cuddle piles  
BAMF Lance  
Fight me  
Paladin magic

Stars wink overhead as Lance sits in the astral plane, his breathing slow and level. He feels Blue’s energy pulse and vibrate around him, thrumming through his body. His own quintessence hums with hers like a tuning fork. He feels the moment the frequency aligns, a gasp slipping out of him as he’s consumed by energy, his vision whiting out. 

~

Lance blinks his eyes open, looking around his bay. He’s alone and that’s wrong. He’s not supposed to be alone. He frowns, the faint pulse of blue quintessence emanating from Blue’s massive metal body behind him, his body, their body. Her purr vibrates through him and he smiles. 

Lace turns, eyes scanning the castle. There’s a pulsing cloud of red quintessence further into the ship and he smiles, heading for it. He’d missed Red. 

~

Allura stumbles with a gasp, her hand grabbing for Coran’s arm, one hand over her heart. 

“Princess?”

She can’t breathe under the flood of energy that rushes through her, the raw quintessence of Blue flaring stronger than she’s ever felt it before. The weight of it nearly takes her legs out from under her.

“Do you feel that?” she gasps, eyes wide and unseeing. “What is that?” She shudders under the power of it, Coran gripping her arm to keep her from falling. 

“What’s happening?” 

“It’s the blue lion.” She puts a hand to her head with a wince. “Something’s happened.” She feels Coran tense under her hand and tightens her grip to keep him from running off. 

“I don’t-I don’t think it’s bad, just-” She swallows thickly. “It is very strong.” 

Coran doesn’t look like he believes her. “I suggest checking the camera’s security feeds Princess. Perhaps we may discover the cause of what’s happening.”

She nods, slowly straightening. The weight of Blue’s quintessence is still there, still overwhelming but it was surprise more than anything that knocked the breath from her. 

“I think you’re right.” 

~

Lance walks slowly down the halls, feeling the weight of the empty castle, the terrible silence and pain in the walls. He brushes his fingers against the metal and whines softly. Anger and fear and the crushing feeling of  _ empty _ press in on him from all sides. He knows what it’s like to be alone. He’d been alone for ten thousand years. 

Tears slide down his cheeks as he remembers the laughter and light and joy that used to be present within his home. It’s a ghost of itself and Lance mourns. 

He presses his forehead to the wall before pulling away, returning to his search for Red. Feeling the emptiness he’s that much more determined. He can hear the hum of her paladin’s quintessence, out of rhythm and tune from her own and it sits like a bur in his ear. It’s not right but he can fix it. He knows he can.

~

The doors hiss open at Keith’s back as he downs the Gladiator. He calls off the simulation, flicking sweaty hair out of his eyes. It’s probably just Shiro but Keith knows better than to turn his back on the bot. He’d said he was going to stop by later but then the fine hairs at the back of Keith’s neck prickle and he spins on a heel, brandishing his sword. 

He stops short at the sight of Lance standing in the doorway. At least he thinks it’s Lance. His eyes are a brilliant white-blue, two small trails of light from the corners of his eyes lingering in the air as he looks around before fading after a delay. Like the afterglow of a lightning strike or a sparkler. Glowing tears line his cheeks and something like steam ripples off his body, fading into the air. 

Keith can feel the cold emanating from him from across the room, the raw power shivering over his skin and goosebumps ripple up Keith’s arms. Lance smiles, wide and bright, coming towards him.

“Lance?”

Keith brandishes his sword, slipping back a step. He doesn’t know what’s happened but he knows Lance is dangerous. Something brushes against his mind and he feels it like a physical touch, delicate and tender. He flinches, batting it away, embarrassed by the intimacy of it for reasons he doesn’t understand. He doesn’t know how but he knows it’s Lance. It doesn’t stop him from backing away, the sword still between them.

Lance’s smile falls and he keens, inclining his head down and towards Keith, showing his throat in a passive half crouch, showing vulnerability. He shuffles closer, Keith keeping the sword between them but not backing away any further.

Lance whines again, his mind touching Keith’s, curious and sad, tentative. Goosebumps ripple up Keith’s arms again at the touch and he shivers. Something almost magnetic is pulling at him, coaxing the fear from his mind and his quintessence instinctively reaches for Lance, wanting to intertwine with his, almost needing it. Want shortens his breath and his stomach hitches, his grip on the sword weak.

Lance tilts his head like he’s leaning into a physical caress as Keith’s quintessence brushes against him. His eyes flutter shut with another whine, half pleased, half in distress, wanting to be closer. Keith doesn’t realize he’s lowered the sword as Lance’s quintessence intertwines with his, drawing him a step closer, warm and inviting.

Joy and love wash over him from Lance as he shuffles another step closer, still gently coaxing. Keith watches as Lance slides closer, peering up at him with his strange glowing eyes, close enough to touch. He whines again and Keith lowers the sword entirely, posture slack and open. He doesn’t know what’s happening but he knows Lance doesn’t want to hurt him and he’s be lying if he said the distance between them didn’t hurt. He wants Lance closer too.

He ducks his head shallowly as if giving his permission, another shiver running up his spine and Lance’s expression splits into a wide grin. Delight and joy and affection swell from Lance, washing over Keith and he’s stunned, light headed and dizzy. The force of emotions hitting him nearly knocks him from his feet. 

Lance leans up, rubbing their cheeks together in a strange but intimate greeting. Keith flushes under the attention, wave after wave of emotion rolling over him and his heart races, eyes fluttering shut. His free hand drifts to settle against Lance’s hip, just the faintest press of his fingers as he revels in the attention. 

A deep thrum fills the room and Keith feels it in his bones, hearing it in his mind as well as with his ears. He knows it’s Blue. He doesn’t know how or why but her quintessence has blended so seamlessly with Lance’s he can’t tell where one begins and the other ends, not sure there is one.

Lance rubs against Keith’s other cheek, bumping their heads together in a way that almost hurts but a flush of pleasure washes through him at the touch. Keith finds himself leaning into it, aching at the familiarity long lost, Red’s presence heavy against the back of his mind. She’s reaching for Blue’s quintessence, wanting and desperate and he drops the sword with a clang. Both hands find Lance’s waist, pressing into his warmth, firm and needy.

Lance lifts his hands, gently cradling Keith’s face and presses their foreheads together. There’s a blinding flash of light and whatever barrier exists between them keeping Keith from fully connecting with Red, vanishes. He gasps as her mind surges into his and then there’s no division between them. He feels her quintessence become his or his hers or theirs and then he’s pressing into Lance’s greeting with a wide grin, equally as pleased to see him. 

He ducks, tucking his head against Lance’s throat, a deep purr in his chest, nuzzling at his pulse with his nose as his arms slip around Lance’s waist, holding him close. 

Lance vibrates, his quintessence threading through Keith’s and around him in a fond embrace.  _ Missed you.  _ Keith hears Lance’s voice in his head, backed by the deep thrum of Blue purring and he responds in turn, purring into the warmth of Lance’s skin.

Lance tucks his head against Keith’s throat in turn, nipping playfully at his ear, holding him loosely. He feels Red’s amusement and Keith nips him back, the two of them enjoying each other’s company after so long apart, pressing close. 

A low rumble starts in his chest as Lance’s mouth closes over Keith’s pulse, sucking on it, working the tender skin slowly with teeth and tongue. The sound works it’s way up his throat as Lance’s grip on him tightens, hands sliding under Keith jacket, slipping from one shoulder. Keith lets his head tip further back, lifting his hands to run through Lance’s hair, holding him there and encouraging the attention. 

Red’s pleased purr rumbles through him and the room both, vibrating through the floor as Lance sucks tender skin into his mouth, working over it again and again until Keith shivers, hands fluttering over Lance’s shoulders and hair. A low whine builds in his throat.

Lance drags his teeth over the skin one last time before letting it go with a wet pop. He presses a soft kiss over the spot, slick and wet and an angry red-purple, nosing along Keith’s jaw and up under his chin. His tongue flicks out, tasting, ready to leave another one when the doors hiss open and Shiro walks in. 

Shiro freezes in place as the already overwhelming energy in the room swells and Lance turns to look at him. Keith’s eyes peer at Shiro from over Lance’s shoulder, raw quintessence radiating off them and making Shiro’s hair stand on end.

Both he and Keith are glowing, a red-white light in Keith’s eyes matching Lance’s in vibrancy, heat rippling off him in waves.

_ Black! _ Shiro hears Lance’s voice in his head, the thick echo of Blue’s energy behind it and nearly buckles under the power, the flood of emotion washing over him; love, trust, joy, and a deep need for affection and touch. It threatens to consume him and tears prick at his eyes. It’s almost what he imagines it would be like to see Adam again after all this time and he finds himself gasping under the pressure on his chest. It’s a struggle to keep his knees from buckling. 

Lance bounds across the training room, Keith on his heels and runs headlong into Shiro, throwing his arms around him. He doesn’t have time to react as Lance bumps his head into Shiro’s chest, a wave of love nearly drowning him as Keith and Lance both project their quintessence at him. The only way Shiro can only describe is  _ loud _ and his legs finally buckle. Lance hugs him tightly as they sink to the floor, rubbing his cheek against Shiro’s in greeting, a deep purr thrumming in his chest.

His quintessence curls around the familiar feel of Black’s energy, of Shiro’s, overwhelming Shiro’s fear and confusion. His quintessence rises to meet Blue and Red on instinct as Lance presses their foreheads together. It feels like a piece of him slots perfectly into place, his quintessence becoming one with Black’s and power surges through him.

Keith circles him, pressing into his shoulders with his leg, bumping him in greeting as Shiro’s quintessence aligns with Black’s. Lance clears their frequency until it matches, the grating off-tune feel of their quintessence finally fitting together in a seamless hum that doesn’t scrape over his skin.

Shiro smiles, eyes a brilliant purple as he greets the two members of his pride, rubbing his cheek first against Lance and then Keith, all three of them purring and bumping against one another. Keith runs his fingers through his hair as Lance hugs him, cheek rubbing against his shoulders.

Warmth and contentment bounce between the three of them, a bone-deep pleasure at being together again making Lance smile. But two of their pride are still missing. They’re still incomplete and much as Lance wants to settle in and cuddle where he’s at, he wants the other members of his family more. 

Lance lifts his head, searching out the energy of the last two paladins, letting Keith pull him to his feet, one hand threading with Shiro’s. They collectively make their way to first Hunk and then Pidge. 

Lance fixes the frequency of their quintessence, a pleased rumble in his chest as he bumps into Hunk, purring loudly. They all greet one another before collectively searching out the last of their pride. They find Pidge in the hydroponics lab, a stylus between their teeth as they tap away on a laptop, completely oblivious to what’s happening until their door opens. 

Pidge’s head snaps up as the collective consciousnesses of four of the lions converge on them, raising the hair on their arms. Pidge’s heart gives a hard kick, adrenaline surging through their veins and goes rigid as the four enter the room, terror gripping their heart. 

Shiro whines at their fear when Pidge sees them, tasting it in Pidge’s quintessence, in the air the same as the others, all of them whining in distress. Pidge should never be afraid of them. Their quintessence tastes cold with fear and he whines again. They’re family. 

Lance whines, chuffing softly, trying to reassure but Pidge flinches. He sends a thread of energy at them but Pidge snaps away from it and Lance recoils, hurt. Pidge backs away, hand scrambling blindly for the intercom as they hit the wall, a table between them and the other paladins. 

“Allura…” Their voice is high and tight as they press the button hard enough to hurt.

_ “It’s alright,”  _ she says gently, voice soft and Pidge glances at the camera in the corner, assuming she’s watching.  _ “They’re not going to hurt you.” _

“The hell is going on?” They flinch as Hunk and Keith sink to the ground by the door, Shiro letting out one last whine, also chuffing, trying to offer reassurance before doing the same when it seems to bring little comfort.

_ “I don’t know. But Lance won’t hurt you,” _ Allura says. _ “He just wants to say hi.” _

“Hi?” Pidge squeaks, glaring at the comm. “What the hell does that mean?” Their eyes dart to the others still by the door. “What’s wrong with them? What is happening?” A panicked note works its way into Pidge’s voice. 

_ “I do not know but it seems he has bonded with the blue lion in a way unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. _

“You’re telling me Blue is going this?”

_ “It would seem so. Lance has bonded with them. He has been seeking out the other paladins, doing the same to them. He has not hurt them. There’s no reason to believe he would hurt you.” _

“And he’s going to do that to me?” Pidge asks, looking at their eyes. 

_ “I believe so. But he does not seem to intend to do harm.”  _

_ “ _ How do you know that?”

_ “Coran and I have been watching through the cameras. He hasn’t hurt the others, I do not believe he intends to.” _

“Then why don’t you get out here and deal with it!” Pidge snaps. 

There’s a long pause where Pidge just stares at Lance. He hasn’t made any move to come closer, just watching intently as Pidge speaks with Allura. 

“ _ I believe Lance is assembling a family group, much like a pride. I am not a part of that. I do not know how he would react to my presence. It is possible he would view me as a threat.” _

_ “ _ So what, I’m just supposed to let this happen?” Pidge’s voice pitches high.

_ “Do you believe Lance would ever hurt you?”  _ Allura counters, voice curious.

Pidge feels the thin thread of Lance’s consciousness drifting between them and reaches curiously for it. He sends a brush of comfort at them, trying to soothe.

“No.” Pidge makes a face. “But that doesn’t change the fact I’m cornered in my own lab by four men,” they say tightly. “And that is  _ extremely  _ uncomfortable.”

Adrenaline demands Pidge fight or run but assessing the gathered Paladins, Pidge knows they can’t win in a fight and there’s no making a run for the door. They are quite conveniently and terrifyingly, trapped. 

Lance turns and makes a noise that has the other three standing casually and moving to the far corner away from both Pidge and the door, skirting around the table to the far corner of the room. 

Keith comes up next to Lance, looking between them before bumping his nose against Lance’s cheek, a soft questioning noise in the back of his throat. Lance kisses his cheek in response, lifting his head to nose at Keith’s bangs before huffing through his nose. Keith shifts his weight for a moment before bumping his face against Lance’s and going to join Hunk and Shiro where they’ve started cuddling again, dropping unceremoniously across them both, demanding attention. 

Lance turns back to Pidge and tips his head toward the door, taking a step away from it and Pidge both, giving them the option to run as if understanding everything Pidge has just said to Allura. For all Pidge knows he can. 

Pidge’s heart pounds but the obvious attempt to make them feel more comfortable does more to foster trust than any of Allura’s words. 

“This had better be worth it,” Pidge grumbles, heart still racing. They step away from the wall, keeping the table between them and Lance, watching him carefully. 

It’s hard not to be afraid at the immense power in the room coming from both Lance and the other three. Pidge feels like it will sear the hair on their head, raw energy scraping over their skin. 

“Hey Blue,” they say slowly and Lance perks up for a moment at the name, still in a partial crouch, body turned slightly away so as to seem smaller and less threatening, eyes averted. He tilts his head so Pidge knows he’s listening. 

“Heard you wanted to come say hi.” A deep purr rumbles through Pidge along with a cautious surge of affection, trying not to overwhelm. Pidge feels Green’s quintessence respond to the feel of it, fond familiarity ringing through them at the feel of Lance’s mind against theirs, like seeing an old friend or loved one after years apart. 

Pidge’s eyes dart to the other three who are sitting close against one another in a display of open affection like they’ve never seen before, Keith sprawled over Shiro and Hunk both, purring loudly.

“Okay, this is weird.” 

Lance makes a curious noise, slipping a little closer, encouraged when Pidge doesn’t flinch away. He lets a thread of affection touch Pidge’s mind, still afraid of scaring them.

It’s a strange sensation but not an entirely unwelcome one and he slinks closer, his quintessence thrumming through Pidge like a drug, Green purring in response. The call is irresistible and their eyes flutter closed, Green reaching for Blue without Pidge consciously letting it happen. 

Pidge doesn’t hear Lance come closer but isn’t surprised when he bumps their foreheads together. They can feel Lance adjusting their quintessence, like he’s finely tuning a radio until it aligns with Green and Pidge lets out a small gasp, their eyes flying open. They’re a brilliant green, blinding at the core, just like the others.

They whine, bumping their cheek against Lance’s in apology as Green greets Blue. The others come to circle around them, bumping one another, bunting their cheeks, each of them purring in turn. 

They all collect around Shiro, his quintessence brushing over each of them one at a time, checking them over, making sure they’re all okay. He idly runs his fingers over all of their hair and then Lance is hip-checking Keith who swats at him playfully and it’s on. Lance darts down the hall in an invitation to play and Keith immediately gives chase, the sounds of their laughter echoing down the hall. Keith slows just enough to be almost caught before darting out of reach again.

The others follow, joining what turns into a chaotic game of tag through the castle halls for over an hour. 

They tag each other back and forth, darting around Black, using Shiro as base before running off again. Any time one catches the other they press a kiss to their cheek before switching.

Eventually Keith tackles Lance, and they grapple briefly, Lance finally getting the upper hand and pinning him in the common room, the others content to lounge about and watch. Shiro yawns, shaking his head and humming. 

Keith snaps his teeth at Lance as he bunts against Keith’s cheek again, scenting him and Keith can hear his laughter and amusement in his head. He huffs, Lance nipping at his ear again before nosing into his hair and darting off faster than Keith can catch him, chasing each other around the couch where the others are cuddling. 

Lance tackles him in turn, driving them both into the couch cushions with a laugh before Keith flips them, rolling them into a pile on the floor before sitting on Lance triumphantly, combing out his hair. 

The others drop to the ground around them, forming a big pile and eventually Keith lets Lance up, each of them nosing at Pidge in turn as the youngest in the group. Pidge finally swats them off with a hiss. It doesn’t stop them from cuddling as Shiro settles down, Keith and Lance on either side of him. Their foreheads rest together on top of his chest, Pidge wedged between Lance and Shiro’s side, purring softly. Hunk cuddles up behind Keith, one arm over his waist to tangle his fingers with Pidge. Keith’s arm across Shiro’s waist tangles in their hair and Lance’s arm wiggles beneath Hunk’s until they’re all touching, a ring of warmth and safety echoing through each of them, content to be together.

Soft purring fills the room, each of them falling asleep one by one, glad to be in the company of the others after so long apart. 


	3. Resonance Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone slowly starts to wake up, Allura has some thoughts, and the others are worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Cuddles  
Paladin cuddle piles  
BAMF Lance  
Fight me  
Paladin magic

Allura watches as slowly the quintessence of the paladins blends together, the colors finally turning white as they drop off to sleep and she can’t breathe. She has no idea what’s happening or why or how but it’s amazing. She wants to wake them, wake Lance and ask what he did but is afraid of disturbing them. So she watches and she waits. 

Eventually she and Coran head for the kitchen for something to eat, settling on the opposite side of the circular couch, watching the sleeping paladins fondly. She’d always hoped they would reach some level of familiarity with one another but never expected it to be like this. They’re balanced as one, their energy so seamless she can’t tell them apart and she has to rub her eyes. It’s profoundly beautiful and she wonders if her father knew such a thing was possible when he’d created the lions; wishes he could see it now. 

Coran drapes a blanket over them all before coming to sit by Allura. As if sensing her thoughts Coran puts an arm around her shoulders and she leans into the comfort he offers. The blinding quintessence radiating off the paladins like light through a prism slowly fades as they rest, Allura’s shoulders beginning to unwind as it does. She hadn’t realized she was so tense. 

Lance’s energy is the last to level out and she sighs in relief at something more familiar. Her skin feels raw after the expose to so much energy. She leans into Coran, content to let the paladins sleep, glad to know whatever he’d done has passed and they’re all safe. 

~

Their nap doesn’t last long, only a few hours. A brief cat nap if you will, a small smile pulling at Allura’s mouth at the thought. 

Keith is the first to wake, stirring and blinking blearily into the light. Allura had dimmed them some so as not to disturb their rest but he’s still squinting. He tries to sit up but is halted by the tangle of limbs he’s buried under. 

“Wha-” His voice is thick with gravel and Allura hides a smile behind her cup, her knees tucked up to her chest. Keith looks grouchy and confused, blearily staring about like he doesn’t understand where he is or how he got there. He tries to rub at his eyes but his hand pulls on Pidge’s hair where his fingers are still tangled and Pidge grumbles.

“Trying to sleep,” they mutter, tucking their head further behind Shiro to hide from the light and Keith’s fingers. 

Keith sits up as best he can, staring down at the group of cuddling paladins, his cheeks going red. 

Allura smiles behind her cup again. 

“How was your nap?” She keeps her voice low so as not to disturb the others and Keith startles, flushing even darker, realizing she’s there. 

Keith carefully untangles the arm he’d been lying on, scrubbing at his eyes. “What happened?” There’s a dull headache behind his eyes and his body hurts like he’s just run a marathon.

Allura runs her finger along the rim of her cup, just as curious as Keith. 

“What do you remember?” she counters gently, seeking answers as much as he. 

Keith rubs at his eyes again, wincing. 

“I was in the training room,” he grumbles. A deep exhaustion has settled into his bones and he desperately wants to go back to sleep. 

“Lance was there.” He shakes his head slowly, wincing when it only makes the pain worse. “Weird dream.” 

“Oh it wasn’t a dream.” Keith’s eyes fly open and his cheeks flush again. Allura doesn’t bother hiding her smile this time.

“What happened?” he hisses, mortified. Pidge grumbles again, kicking out in the direction of Keith’s voice to shut him up but kicks Shiro instead. He jerks awake with a snort and Allura hides a laugh behind her hand. 

“Keith?” He tries to rub at his eyes but finds his arms pinned beneath a blue and yellow paladin. His eyes widen comically as he realizes he’s buried under the others and his cheeks turn pink. 

“Umm…”

Allura snorts into her cup, thinking maybe she’s had too much to drink. 

“I’m afraid I don’t have any answers for you,” she says, managing to keep most of the laughter out of her voice. “You’d need to talk to Lance.” 

“Would you guys shut up,” Pidge snaps, sitting up to glare at them. Their glasses are askew, an angry red mark pressed into their skin from the frames and their hair is a wild mess. Hunk grumbles and begins to rouse too. 

Shiro nudges Lance gently with his shoulder where he’s lying on his chest but Lance doesn’t respond. When he does it again Lance slides limply to the floor. 

“Lance? Lance!” Keith reaches for him, shaking him, the lunge bringing Hunk fully awake. Lance doesn’t respond. 

“Shit.” Keith scrambles to untangle himself as Shiro sits up, disturbing the paladin cuddle pile. Even Allura slides off the couch to sit beside him. Shiro rolls Lance onto his back as Pidge moves out of the way, straightening their glasses. Lance’s head is limp on his shoulders, lips parted in sleep. His breathing is steady but he doesn’t respond to any of their attempts to wake him. 

“Is he alright?” Hunk asks, peering between them all to get a look at Lance.

Allura’s hands glow as she places her fingers to his forehead, searching his quintessence for a moment, closing her eyes to focus.

“He is alright,” she says after a moment, her eyes opening as the light of her hands fades. “He is just very tired, his quintessence depleted. I believe he needs time to recover.”

“Recover from what?” Shiro glances between Lance and Allura, feeling a swelling need to protect. He drops one hand to Lance’s hair. “What happened?”

Allura sighs and sits back onto the floor, surprising all of them with the casual, child-like nature of it.

“I do not know,” she admits. “Only Lance can truly answer that, but I believe we have a theory.” She glances at Coran who comes to join them, sitting on the floor as well. 

“Lance has always had an exceptionally strong quintessence, second only to Keith’s,” Allura explains. “It is strong and adaptable and he has a deep compassion and empathy that I have only ever encountered in Alteans. It is surprising that he could be that empathetic and not also have alchemy. 

“Were he Altean I would say such a thing wasn’t possible.” Her hand rests briefly against Lance’s shin. 

“Your bonds with your lions are meant to grow, to become stronger,” she says. “I think…” She bites her lip. “I think maybe Lance has bonded with his lion in a way previously unknown to both myself and my father. An experience it appears he is capable of replicating in each of you.” 

She looks between each of the paladins who have all put a brief amount of distance between one another but are still sitting close. 

“Is that what that was?” Hunk rubs the side of his head, an uncomfortable pressure behind his eyes.

“We won’t know until he wakes.” Allura lifts one shoulder. “Only Lance can truly tell us what happened. But that is my best guess.” 

“Is that- something we can all do?” Pidge asks, straightening their hair and rubbing at where their glasses had dug into the side of their nose. 

“Has it ever happened to any of you before?” Allura asks and they all shake their heads. “Then I suppose it would be necessary to have Lance be the one to replicate it, though I have no idea how he managed.”

“So...do we wake him up?” Hunk looks at his best friend in concern, a wrinkle in the middle of his forehead.

“I could,” Allura says, “but I think it best to let him rest. His quintessence is very weak and I’m concerned waking him now might do more harm than good.”

“Is that bad?” Hunk wrings his hands, his eyes darting between Allura and Lance.

“It is not...good,” she hesitates, “but right now I do not believe there is any real danger.” 

“You don’t  _ believe _ ?” Keith’s voice comes out venomous. 

A steely note works its way into her voice as she looks at Keith. “I have no frame of reference to understand what has happened, let alone how it might affect a human mind and body. But he is not dead.” She rises to her feet, wiping imaginary dust from her knees.

“I suggest we let him rest but take turns keeping an eye on him until he wakes on his own.” 

They all agree, Shiro picking Lance up to lay him on the couch where he'll be more comfortable, Hunk sliding a pillow under his head. Shiro brushes Lance’s hair back from his forehead before draping the blanket over him. 

“Who wants first watch?”


	4. Resonance- Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finally comes around. He's still sleepy and recovering will take time. Keith keeps an eye on him and catches him up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Cuddles  
Paladin cuddle piles  
BAMF Lance  
Fight me  
Paladin magic  
Soft Keith  
Worried Keith  
Flangst

It’s almost a full day before Lance wakes, his eyes hazy and unfocused. Keith sits on the ground in front of him, leaning back against the couch and playing with an Altean puzzle box. Lance watches idly, trying to get his molasses thoughts together. 

Keith glances over and sees his eyes are open. He drops the box and turns to face Lance, giving him his full attention. Lance blinks dully. 

“Hey.” Keith pushes Lance’s hair away from his cheek, tucking it behind his ear. “How you feeling?”

Lance groans, turning his face into the pillow. 

“Wha’ happened?” he slurs, voice muffled by the pillow as he hides from the light. 

“We were hoping you could tell us that.” 

Lance turns to face him again, eyes closed with a deep sigh. 

“Had a dream,” he mumbles, taking slow deep breaths. He wants to go back to sleep. “Were all vibing with our lions or whatever.” He makes a noncommittal noise in his throat, trying to remember. He hides a yawn against the couch. 

“Like, they possessed us or something...we all ended up just falling asleep in a big pile.” He laughs, snuggling deeper into the pillow with a pleased hum. A headache has made itself at home behind his eyes and his limbs feel heavy.

“Yeah, that wasn’t a dream,” Keith says slowly and Lance opens one eye, expecting Keith to be fucking with him but Keith’s cheeks are red. He scratches at the back of his neck awkwardly and looks away. The angle gives Lance a good view of the very obvious hickey on the side of Keith’s throat.

“That actually happened.” 

Both Lance’s eyes snap open and he flushes, burying his face in the pillow. “Oh my god,” he groans. “I rubbed my face all over Shiro’s chest. And his face! And your face! Oh my god I want to die.” He grabs at his hair, pressing deeper into the pillow. 

In spite of his embarrassment at the memory, foggy though it may be, Keith laughs. Lance is utterly mortified and he swears at Blue in Spanish. She purrs in the back of his head, infinitely pleased with herself. 

“I’m going to kill that cat,” he mutters, head giving an angry pulse. He feels drained as fuck and his body aches like he just crawled out of a cement mixer. 

Keith is silent for a moment and Lance takes the time to take several slow, deep breaths, trying to sort through what he remembers and not die of embarrassment. 

“Blue loves you, you know,” Lance offers into the silence and then frowns. “Or Red.” His lips purse in thought and his headache makes it hard to think. 

“It’s hard to separate the two.” He pinches the bridge of his nose and Keith nudges his hand, pressing a painkiller and a water pouch into his hands when he looks up. 

“Thanks.” He downs the meds and Keith takes the pouch back, setting it aside. 

“You’re special,” Lance mumbles and he knows he must be tired or he’d never have said that. He immediately tries to redirect the conversation. 

“What happened?” 

“Apparently you super bonded with Blue and became a demi-god.” Pidge hops over the back of the couch and across Lance, completely unapologetic as they land between his lower back and the couch. He makes a pained noise and winces but doesn’t try to throw them off. He hadn’t heard them come in. 

Lance grumbles and shifts under Pidge, throwing them a dirty look which they blatantly ignore.

“Oh,” he mumbles, sorting through the broken pieces in his memory. “That’s what that was.” 

Pidge leans forward to look at him. “How?” they demand. “No one can figure out what you did.” 

The doors hiss open and Allura appears from behind the couch, gingerly sinking onto a cushion at Lance’s feet. 

Lance shrugs as best he can, one arm flopping over the edge of the couch, bumping into Keith’s knee. He doesn’t move away like Lance had been expecting and seems to actually shift into the touch. His knuckles brush tentatively against Lance’s wrist but he doesn’t look at him. 

Lance pillows his head on his other arm and stares down the length of the couch to Allura.

“Don’t know,” he admits. Talking is taking too much energy. “Was just meditating with Blue and-” He makes a vague gesture with the hand he’s laying on. 

“We just...fit together. Like a puzzle piece that hadn’t quite fit right until then had finally slipped into place. “It was like we finally _ fit _ like we were always meant to.”

“You did not before?” Allura tips her head to the side, her hair sliding forward over her shoulder. 

Lance frowns, trying to explain. “You know how when you tune a radio, the wavelengths have to match up so you can get a clear signal? It’s like, you can still hear the radio if it’s not tuned perfectly but there’s static and noise and it’s garbled, hard to understand.” Allura frowns but Pidge and Keith look like they get it. 

“It was like the static all just finally cleared and we were perfectly tuned to one another.” Keith nods slowly, eyes half-focused, remembering. 

“How did you do it to the others?” Allura asks. 

“Don’t know. I just-” He gestures vaguely again. “Tuned them. Adjusting their frequencies to their lions until it was right.” It feels lacking somehow but it’s all Lance can think of. “Blue helped.” 

“Are you saying you adjusted not only your own quintessence but that of your fellow paladins to exactly match that of the lions?” Allura asks and Lance shrugs again, feeling small under the scrutiny. 

“I guess.” 

Allura looks shocked. 

“I think it’s more like purifying it,” Hunk says, he and Shiro coming to sit down from where they’d been standing in the doorway, listening. Hunk sits on the couch, pulling Lance’s legs into his lap. Shiro sits beside Keith on the floor, Allura’s knees lightly pressing into his back. 

“Like how we smelt metal to get rid of the impurities,” Hunk explains. “I don’t think Lance changed my quintessence, just that he cleared it, filtering out everything that wasn’t necessary, focusing it into its most pure form.” Allura’s expression clears. 

“How?” Lance blinks up at him, looking for answers and Hunk shakes his head.

“I don’t know buddy.” 

“Can you do it again?” Keith asks, drawing everyone’s attention and shrinking under it, his cheeks red. He hadn’t meant to sound that eager.

Lance snorts, cheek pressed firmly into the couch cushion. He flicks his fingers against Keith’s knee, subtly trying to offer comfort. 

“Nah right now,” he mumbles, words distorted and eyes half closed. “Tired.”

Pidge frowns, legs still draped over Lance’s lower back. “Is it permanent? Is he always going to be all...glowy and stuff?” They wiggle their fingers. 

Allura lifts one shoulder in a shrug. “I do not know. He has become not only the Blue lion’s paladin but her avatar if I understand what’s happened correctly. I have no idea what this could mean or if it could ultimately prove fatal.”

“Excuse me?” Shiro looks horrified, everyone’s eyes except for Lance’s snapping to the Princess’s. 

Allura turns to Shiro, folding her hands in her lap. “Humans do not have alchemy. This kind of a bond could put too big a strain on his mind and body, on all of you.” She looks between each of them. “I do not know that this won’t cause more harm than good. 

“It could be fine. But you need to understand that this has never happened before, to anyone. I don’t know what to expect or how to guide you, or him, through this.” She nods in Lance’s direction where he’s half asleep again. “He must do it on his own.” 

None of them are all that inclined to leave after that, each one feeling somehow bereft in a way they don’t quite understand. Keith tentatively reaches for Lance’s fingers, hooking one gently with his own. Lance curls his finger around Keith’s and holds on, his eyes still closed. 

Keith has been feeling oddly distressed and lonely since the resonance Lance put him and the others through wore off and only being around Lance and the others helps. He’s hesitant to leave, as are the others and as Lance falls asleep again, they all slowly go their separate ways, each of them eventually drifting back. They never stay away for long. 

Keith stays sitting on the floor, his finger looped with Lance’s until his legs fall asleep and even then, he doesn’t let go.


	5. Resonance- Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue loves Keith. Lance should be sleeping but Keith is distracting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Cuddles  
Paladin cuddle piles  
BAMF Lance  
Fight me  
Paladin magic  
Emotional Comfort

They send Lance off to bed shortly after but Keith can’t stop thinking about what happened. He wants to know more, wants that connection back. It sits like an itch under his skin, insufferable and one he can’t scratch. He manages to hold his tongue until they reach Lance’s room and then he can’t hold them back.

“Why me?”

Lance startles, like Keith has shaken him out of his own thoughts. He almost regrets speaking, but the question has been burning behind his teeth.

“What?” The distant look to his eyes lets Keith know he hadn’t processed the question.

“When the-” He gestures vaguely, still not sure what to call what had happened. “The thing.” He makes a face, frustrated with the lackluster description. “When it happened. You came to me.” He searches Lance’s eyes, not sure what it is he’s hoping to find there. “Why?” 

Lance’s cheeks warm and he rubs at the back of his neck awkwardly. “I don’t-” It’s a lie and he knows it. “Maybe because you were the closest?” He shrugs awkwardly. “You also have the second strongest quintessence among the paladins. Like, dude you have _ so _ much quintessence. It’s overwhelming.” He clicks his nails nervously, his voice going soft. “But maybe because Blue loves you.”

Keith stares at him wide-eyed. “She does?”

Lance nods. “Yeah, she really does.” He wonders if Blue’s affection for Red and Keith both was the only thing that drove them to seek him out first. 

Keith frowns in startled confusion. “_Why? _”

To his surprise Lance laughs. The expression brings the life back to his face, fighting off the remnant exhaustion that still haunts his features. Whatever he’d done to them had drained him further than Keith originally thought.

“You really don’t know?” 

Keith flushes at the warmth in Lance’s tone. He shrugs awkwardly, toeing at the floor. “I haven’t done anything.”

“Oh,” Lance breathes, soft, affectionate and sad. He takes a step into Keith’s space like what he’s about to say is very important. “Yes, you did.” He touches Keith’s arm. “Keith you _ found _ her.”

Keith is already shaking his head. “I didn’t-”

Lance takes both his arms. “Yes, you did,” he says again, the words thick with emotion. “She couldn’t talk to you, it was too dangerous but she could feel you. She knew you were going to be Red’s. You were a connection back to her family, to someone she loves and cares about.” He has to swallow back the desire to cry. “You broke the silence.” A smile stretches across his mouth. “You shattered that and brought light and hope back into her life.” Lance’s lips tremble and he squeezes Keith’s arms. 

“Keith she thought she was going to be in that cavern forever. It was like being locked away in solitary confinement for ten thousand years.” He shakes his head slowly, his hands falling away from Keith. “I don’t know if it’s possible for a giant sentient lion to go crazy...but I think she might have. You saved her. Whether you believe it or not that’s how she feels.” His cheeks warm all over again. “She _ loves _ you. More fiercely than she loves anything else.” A smile pulls his mouth sideways. “Almost rivals her love for me.” 

Keith’s heart pounds. “I didn’t know she felt like that.” 

“I thought she’d told you.” 

Keith shakes his head and Lance frowns. “Did you know you could talk to the other lions?”

Keith shakes his head again and Lance groans. “Yeah, that makes way more sense,” he mumbles thoughtfully. “I thought you all knew how to do that.”

“Red missed her too.” He flushes, the confession spilling out of him abruptly. 

Lance smiles. “I know.” He lifts a hand to his chest, fingers pressing over his heart. “I could feel it.”

“You could?” He looks up in surprise. 

Lance nods. “I could feel all of them, all of you. Thoughts, emotions, memories.” He rubs at his forehead again. “There was a lot to process.” He huffs a laugh, arm dropping back to his side. “Kinda quiet up here without all of you.” He taps a temple, the smile around his eyes tight. “It’s still a lot to process.” His mouth pulls sideways and he touches his heart again. “Part of me can still feel it, even now. I mean I’ve always been able to feel Blue in the back of my mind but it’s like it’s deeper now. More personal.” His eyes burn. “She’s lonely.”

“Can you teach me?” The question is abrupt and awkward and Keith blushes. 

Lance doesn’t know. “I can try. I’m not really sure what I did?” He scratches the back of his neck. “But we can try to replicate it if you want.” 

Keith nods. “I’d like that.”

“Okay.” Lance grabs his jacket and steps into the hall. “Then let’s go see what we can learn.” He grins as he steps past Keith, both of them falling into step together as Lance leads them to Blue’s hangar. 


	6. Resonance- Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance teaches Keith to find Red in the astral plane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea where this is going or if it will ever move any further than this. But I still like the premise and what I have written. So I hope you enjoyed it thus far.  
~
> 
> Tags:  
Cuddles  
Paladin cuddle piles  
BAMF Lance  
Fight me  
Paladin magic  
Lance teaching Keith  
Blue and Red being super affectionate  
Everyone loves Keith

Keith and Lance wind up meditating together in Red’s hangar after Lance has suitably recovered, trying to replicate the events that caused the lion’s possession in the first place. Lance had wrinkled his nose at the term but failed to come up with a suitable replacement. 

He closes his eyes and smiles when they walk in. “Hey beautiful,” he whispers, Red’s mind wrapping around him in welcome and she purrs. 

Keith blinks at him, startled. “You can hear her?” 

Lance nods, still smiling. “She’s intoxicating,” he breathes, head tipping back as if basking in the sun. He hums, feeling Blue purr back at Red in welcome. 

They begin to meditate together, Lance drawing Keith into the astral plane. Blue greets them, bounding over to bump her head into Lance’s chest the way Lance had done to Shiro. She’s massive but in comparison to her mechanical self she’s a fraction of her normal size, her form taking on that of a lion from Earth. A short mane extends part way down her neck and shoulders and Lance works his fingers into it, giving her an affectionate scratch. They slide their cheeks together in greeting, Lance pressing his forehead to hers.

“Why do you do that?” Keith asks curiously, watching them. He remembers Lance doing the same to him in the training room though it’s fuzzy.

“Scenting,” he explains. “She’s saying hello.” He scratches Blue behind the ears. “Haven’t you ever had a cat?” he asks, half teasing, his eyes drifting to Keith’s. 

“No.” 

Lance’s lips part in surprise. “Oh.” He makes a face Keith doesn’t quite understand. “Well, it’s how cats know who’s family,” he explains. “They scent each other. There’s a gland here.” He lightly taps Blue’s muzzle. “That makes you smell like them to other cats and so they can recognize you.”

Blue pads over to Keith, chuffing in greeting before pressing her cheek into his, nearly knocking him over. He stumbles, laughing quietly and pats her head.

“I didn’t know they could do this.” He runs a hand over her nose in wonder. 

“Do what?” Lance looks around for Red but so far she’s not here. 

“Manifest like this.” Keith is still petting Blue who’s purring at the attention. 

Lance frowns. “You’ve never gone to just hang out with Red in the astral?”

“Lance, I didn’t even know they could do this.” He ruffles Blue’s mane, cupping her face to turn and look at Lance as if to make his point.

Lance’s eyebrows lift in surprise. “Oh. So all the times you guys said you were down in your hangars with your lions you meant it literally.” He stares around the astral, at how empty it is again. “Yeah that makes more sense.”

“You didn’t?”

He shakes his head. “No. She’s always been here. Well, I mean not  _ always _ ,” he corrects himself. “But after the first few times I made it to the astral plane she showed up. She’s always here to greet me when I come to meditate and play with her.” Keith is still running a hand over Blue’s head.

“Guess that explains why I’ve never seen any of the others here.” Lance shrugs, putting his hands in his pockets, leaning against Blue’s side where she’s preening under the extra attention. He rolls his eyes. 

“Flirt,” he mutters and Keith blushes. Blue turns her head to snort at him, sticking her nose in the air and pressing back into Keith’s hands, purring loudly. Lance laughs, giving her a gentle ribbing with his elbow. 

“I’ve never seen Blue or any of the other lions here.” Keith looks around at the astral. “Not that I’ve made it myself that often.”

“Have you tried asking her?” Lance tucks his hands in his pockets, his head tipping lazily to the side.

“Excuse me?”

A smile pulls at Lance’s mouth. “Ask her,” he says, voice firm but soft. “If you want her here, invite her. No one knows you want to spend time with them if you don’t ask, Keith.” 

Keith stares down at Blue, smoothing his fingers over her brows, considering Lance’s words.

“Alright.” He gives Blue one last pat before sitting down and closing his eyes, his hands resting over his knees. Blue lays down, her muzzle draped over Keith’s thigh and he lifts his hand from under her chin to rest it over her head without opening his eyes. 

A smile flickers over his face before his expression goes neutral once again, trying to focus. Lance rolls his eyes at his lion, flopping down and using her as a giant pillow. 

Keith’s breathing slows and a few minutes later there’s a roar that makes the ground beneath them vibrate. Lance’s heart soars at the sound, Blue surging to her feet. Lance tumbles over sideways with a delighted laugh as Blue bounds over to the other lion where she’s landing in what looks like an impressive leap. Blue tackles her, the two of them rolling over and wrestling, tails thumping. Blue pins her, rubbing her face in greeting. Lance lays there watching them, tears of joy pricking at his eyes, overwhelmed by the joy and love he can feel in Blue. 

“Are you okay?”

Lance nods. “Yeah,” he rasps. “She’s just really happy.” He takes a jagged breath, rubbing at his eyes. “She’s been lonely. Missed her pride.” Red finally chases Blue off, trotting over to circle around Keith as he stands. Even standing he’s eye level with her. She sniffs him for a moment and Keith leans down to let her scent him. She purrs, bumping against him so aggressively she actually knocks him over, startling a laugh from him. 

She flops across his chest, knocking the air out of him with a painful grunt and goes about licking her front paw, beginning to bathe herself, a deep purr still rumbling through her chest. Lance can’t stop laughing. 

“Red,” Keith groans. “You’re heavy.” 

“Looks like someone’s a little attention starved,” Lance teases. Keith glares up at him as Blue flops down at Keith’s head and begins to lick at his hair while he’s trapped, grooming him, much to Keith’s horror. He flushes bright red, glaring up at her utterly mortified.

Lance is cackling. 

“I hate you,” Keith grumbles and Lance doesn’t know if he’s taking to him or Blue. Blue just purrs. 

“Should I just go?” Lance hooks a thumb over his shoulder. “Do you three want to be alone?”

Red half turns her head to look at him, her tail thumping and chuffs. 

Lance can barely contain a smile. “Alright, cuddle party it is.” He wanders over, hands still in his pockets and wedges himself between Red’s side and Blues flank, sitting next to Keith’s shoulder. 

“I hate all of you,” Keith grumbles, face still red. Blue continues to groom him, purring contentedly. 

“Alright, alright,” Lance scolds lightly, shooing Blue off. She whines in protest but lays down, her muzzle close to Keith’s shoulder. 

“Oh let him alone,” he scolds. “It’s my turn.” He runs his fingers through Keith’s now rumpled hair, smoothing it down. Keith blushes again but doesn’t say anything. Not that he can. He can barely breathe under the weight of the lion on his chest.

Lance leans back against Red and closes his eyes, his body rising and falling as she breathes, fingers still playing in Keith’s hair. 

“I’m sorry,” he says softly and Keith turns to look at him but Lance’s eyes are still closed. There’s a weight to his voice that tells Keith he isn’t apologizing for Blue’s impromptu bath. 

“For what?” His voice comes out just as soft and it’s not because of the weight of the astral lion his pinned under. 

Lance makes a face like he doesn’t want to say whatever it is he’s thinking. He swallows and turns his head to stare out at the empty astral instead of meeting Keith’s gaze. 

“That your heart hurts.” He pulls his hand back, pulling his knees to his chest, loosely cradling his arms around them. “That you’re so lonely.” 

He can hear Keith choke on a denial and turns to glare at him before he can get the words out.

“I was inside your head Keith. I was in everyone’s head. Whether I wanted to be or not.” He grips his wrist a little more tightly. 

The openness on Keith’s face immediately closes off, his mental shields slamming into place so hard and fast Lance feels it. Blue whines in distress and Red pauses in her bathing. 

“I’m not,” he argues but it’s weak. 

Lance stands slowly, patting Blue as her worry touches his mind. “You don’t have to be honest with me,” Lance says softly, “that’s okay.” It hurts but he understands. He doesn’t like to share his insecurities and hurts either and Keith’s had been shared unwillingly. 

“But at least be honest with her.” He inclines his head at Red. “Or else it isn’t going to work.” He sticks his hands in his pockets, Blue standing up next to him. 

“I’ll leave you alone so you can spend some time together. When you’re ready she’ll show you the way out.” He pats Blue again before tucking his hands in his pockets and striding away. 

Red gets up and walks around Keith, curling around him protectively as he sits up, a low rumble in her throat. Keith leans into her warmth, feeling embarrassed and vulnerable. Red puts her head in his lap, purring comfortingly and Keith runs his fingers through her mane hoping it will make him feel better. Blue settles at his back, whining in concern and after a moment Keith leans into her, taking comfort from her presence as much as Red’s.  
~

Lance wakes up in Red’s hangar, his body stiff from sitting so long. He cracks his spine before heading off, leaving Keith alone with Red. 

  
  



	7. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance takes a moment to be awestruck by the trust Keith is showing him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another little random one-shot that’s never going to go anywhere.  
~
> 
> Tags:  
Soft boys  
Trust  
Lance is emotional  
Established Relationship  
Smuttish???

Lance’s arm slides under Keith’s hips forcing him to arch his back, pressing his weight into his shoulders and heels as Lance rocks into him. His lips are pressed to Keith’s throat but he pulls back to stare and loses his breath. 

Keith is bent in a smooth arch, dark shirt rucked up over his flushed chest, arms spread over his head. His eyes are closed and there’s a pretty flush to his face, lips slightly swollen and parted. His knees are spread wide, Lance kneeling between them, holding Keith partially suspended in the air and Keith is _ letting him. _

For a moment Lance can’t believe it’s actually Keith. Keith who’s normally so closed off and defensive, who never lets anyone get too close spread out beneath him so open and trusting. The sight nearly knocks him sideways. 

Keith’s eyes flutter open and Lance slowly lowers him back to the mattress, staring in awe. 

“What?” He’s breathless and Lance can’t help but stare in wonder, knowing he’s the first to hear him like that, to see him like this. 

“You’re trusting me,” he whispers, swiping his thumb gently under the swell of Keith’s lower lip, kiss-swollen and flushed. 

“Well of course I am.” 

Lance’s brow furrows like he doesn’t think Keith understands the full weight of what he means. 

“You’re letting me touch you.”

His fingers trail over Keith's jaw and down his throat, tracing over the bruises he’s already left there. 

“Lance we’ve been making out for half an hour,” Keith teases, laughter in his eyes and Lance is lost in them. “I thought that was obvious.” 

“I don’t…” Lance purses his lips, trying to put words to what he’s feeling, tracing lines and patterns into Keith’s skin and staring in wonder. There’s a knot in his throat he can’t seem to swallow. 

“You’re- trusting me.” He doesn’t know how else to say it. “Vulnerability is scary. This-” He gestures between them. “Knowing someone and being known. It’s _ scary _.” He looks at Keith intently, willing himself to be understood. “And you’re trusting me with that,” he says weakly. “It’s kind of a big deal.”

Keith looks up at him and Lance can see his mind working, his starlight eyes searching. 

“This really means a lot to you huh?”

Lance nods, swallowing past that knot again. “Yeah. Trust isn’t something that’s given freely or to be abused.” He strokes a knuckle over Keith’s cheek. “You’re not a trusting person, for good reason, and yet...here you are.” He stares at Keith spread out beneath him, gobsmacked. His eyes trail over Keith and how open he is in this moment, laid out and vulnerable. 

“You’re giving that to me,” Lance says thickly, struck by the moment and overwhelmed, feeling silly for wanting to cry. 

“You’re trusting me.” He frowns, not sure if he’s getting his point across, frustrated that he can’t make himself understood. He huffs, shoulders sagging. 

“I guess I just don’t feel worthy of that.”

“Hey.” Keith catches his face in his hands, drawing Lance’s eyes eyes back to his own.

“I understand.” He smiles, warm and soft and fond. “Would I really be here if you weren’t?” His thumbs stroke over Lance’s cheeks.

Lance’s fingers trace little patterns into Keith’s skin. 

“No.”

Keith’s smile goes even softer before he leans up and kisses him. “You’re kinda sweet you know that?”

“I’m not nearly as shallow as I pretend to be,” Lance teases but it falls flat. 

Keith strokes his thumbs over Lance's cheeks again. “I know.

“I like it when you touch me. I like that you like touching me. I like that this means so much to you.”

Lance groans, his head drooping between Keith’s hands for a moment. “God, you’re so-” He runs his palm down Keith’s chest to his stomach and back again, Keith arching into his touch with a pleased little hum. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” Lance rasps. 

Keith grins, one eyebrow lifting as he rolls his hips up into Lance, making him groan. 

“I have some idea,” he says smugly. 


	8. I Wish I Could See You- Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Galra Keith mutual prisoners AU. Friends through the cells. I have no idea where this is going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Hurt/comfort  
Angst  
Eventual Smut  
Emotional hurt/comfort  
Galra Keith but not like canon  
Shapeshifter Keith  
I have art for his design around somewhere that inspired this in part...

Lance is lying on the floor next to the vent, same as he always does. The stone floor is cold and unyielding against his back but familiar. His fingers are looked through the metal grate of the nearby vent, a useless endeavor to reach the person on the other side. 

“I wish you were here,” he says softly, voicing something vulnerable in the safety of the dark. 

“I’m right here.” Keith’s voice echoes through the iron, the same as it always does. Lance has never wanted to touch someone more. He presses his fingers to the grate, trying. 

“No, I meant-”

“I know,” Keith says softly and Lance swallows, pressing his forehead to the wall and closing his eyes.”

“What do you look like?” Keith murmurs, like he’s afraid to ask. “I never asked.” 

Lance thinks for a bit. “Right now? A mess probably.” 

Keith laughs, a small breathy thing and there’s a gravel to it, something raspy and dry but endearing. It’s the most beautiful thing Lance thinks he’s ever heard.

“You know what I meant.”

Lance smiles. “I’m Cuban,” he says. “Brown skin, brown hair. It’s cut short in the back and a little longer on the top. It’s grown out now.” He touches his hair as he talks. 

“I usually straighten it but it’s starting to curl again.” He laughs. “Not much use for a straightener in here.” He catches the edge of a nail along the grate, the soft click of it echoing through the vent as he thinks. 

“Um, I have narrow eyebrows that arch. And an upturned nose. My dad calls it a ski-jump nose.” He smiles fondly at the memory. “Pointed chin, high cheekbones. Probably a little gaunt now.” Keith can hear the smile in his voice. “Blue eyes.”

Keith’s fingers flick over the grate on the other side, trying to picture him. The image is vague at best.

“Light or dark?” he asks softly. 

“Both? Lighter inner ring but a darker outer.” 

Keith goes quiet and Lance shifts restlessly, missing his voice. 

“What about you? What do you look like?” 

Keith touches the collar on his throat, the wretched thing keeping him from shifting. He barely remembers what he looks like without it. 

“Keith?” 

“Not as pretty as you.”

Lance blushes, his heart giving a little kick in his chest. 

“I doubt that,” he whispers. “I’m hardly a sight for sore eyes right now. Pretty sure I could kill a man with how I smell.” He wrinkles his nose and rattles the grate. 

“Come on, don’t keep me in suspense. What do you look like.” 

Keith’s tail flicks, slitted pupils wide in the dark. He closes his eyes, trying to remember. 

“I’m half Korean. Dark hair. Usually shoulder length but it’s longer now.” He struggles for more, clawed fingers probing at his face. 

“Sloped nose, thicker eyebrows. Soft features I guess. There’s a scar on my right cheek from where someone tried to take my head off.” He runs his fingers over his mouth wondering if it would be strange to say he has full lips. He blushes and decides against it. 

“What about your eyes?” Lance asks, voice unbearably soft. Keith bites the inside of his cheek, trying not to make more of this than it probably is, but it’s hard. Lance is the only company he’s had in...he doesn’t know how long. And the only person to be kind to him in years.

“Depends on who you ask,” he says awkwardly. “Some say they’re grey, others deep blue-grey. Sometimes violet.”

“Violet?” Keith hears the curiosity in his voice.

Keith bites his lip and hopes he hasn’t given too much away. 

“Yeah.” 

He hears Lance smile. “Pretty.” 

Keith flushes at the compliment. No one’s ever said that about him. 

“I guess.” He shrugs, self-conscious. “I like your smile.” It slips out before he can stop it and he can hear Lance’s surprise. 

“You can’t even see my smile, how do you know you like it?” Lance teases, laughter in his voice. 

Keith closes his eyes, imagining it. “Like the way it sounds,” he says softly, savoring the sound.

Lance’s fingers flex on the grate, his heart pulling. 

“God, I wish I could see you,” he mourns.

Keith wriggles his fingers between the spaces, reaching even though he knows it’s futile. They’re too far away. 

“I know. Me too.” 


	9. I Wish I Could See You Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They make it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Hurt/comfort  
Angst  
Eventual Smut  
Emotional hurt/comfort  
Galra Keith but not like canon  
Shapeshifter Keith  
I have art for his design around somewhere that inspired this in part...  
Protective Keith  
Protective Lance

The siren blares and there’s an explosion nearby, shattering the silence of the prison. Keith hears scuffling in the hall outside his door, someone opening a room nearby. Keith stands slowly. There are shouts and faintly he hears more people struggling.

“Lance?” He keeps his eyes on the door, moving to the vent.

“I’m here.” His voice is faint through the vent but still there.

“What’s going on?” Keith crouches next to the grate, keeping the wall to his back.

“I don’t know,” Lance says warily. “I think-” He’s cut off abruptly and Keith hears a shout followed by gunfire.

“Lance!” There’s no response and Keith throws himself at the wall, trying to tear through it, rage curling inside him. The siren pierces his ears, grating against his nerves.

“_Lance!” _The door to his room hisses open and Keith drops into a crouch, baring his fangs with a snarl, claws flashing. 

The figure in the doorway blinks dumbly, staring at him. They’re visibly caught off-guard and Keith flexes his claws but doesn’t lunge. 

There’s something about the figure Keith can’t quite put his finger on, but he doesn’t look all that threatening. For another thing he’s human. And a scrawny and underfed one at that. If Keith didn’t know any better he’d say the man was a prisoner. 

They smile, startling Keith even more, posture going slack and lazy. 

“You did tell me you were only half Korean,” they say.

Keith blinks at him. He’d know that voice anywhere. He rises slowly, eyes wide, drinking in the sight of him.

“Lance?”

Lance’s smile turns shy and he waves a hand. Keith was right, he does like Lance’s smile. 

“Hi?” 

Someone grabs Lance by the shoulder hauling him back and Keith snarls, lunging forward, ready to tear into whoever it is to protect Lance.

“He’s Galra!” 

Keith hisses, tail lashing back and forth behind him.

“He’s also my friend,” Lance snaps, shoving away whoever had grabbed him before Keith can get his hands on him. “So back off.” He marches into the room, glaring over his shoulder and Keith ducks away, afraid Lance is going to hit him. He hates himself for the thought but no one’s ever touched him with anything other than aggression. It’s a knee-jerk response but he still feels guilty for it. 

Lance is still scowling at the man in the doorway but when he turns around to face Keith his expression softens. 

“Can I...?” He gestures to the collar on Keith’s neck. 

Keith touches it, the purple light running through the band dancing across his fingers at the contact. 

“I don’t know. It zaps me every time I try.”

“Matt, do I need a key card for this thing?” Lance calls to the man in the doorway. A small metal card comes flying at him and Lance snatches it out of the air. 

“Thanks.”

“Hurry up,” Matt snaps. “We’re gonna lose our window.”

“Can you tip your head forward?” Lance asks. Keith does, Lance moving aside his hair to press the card against the back of the collar. It beeps before snapping open, dropping to the floor. Keith breathes out a sigh of relief, his shift rolling over him almost without his control. He shivers with relief and pleasure, the ache in his body finally fading. It’s like a very satisfying full body joint pop. Keith rolls his neck with a smile. 

“Thank you.” He opens his eyes and Lance stares at him, caught off guard. A smile crosses his face after a moment. 

“Violet,” he says quietly and Keith blushes. Lance’s smile widens, something teasing in his eyes. “And you’re definitely prettier than me.” He flicks the tip of Keith’s hair with his fingers. Keith can’t help thinking Lance is very, very wrong. 

“Are you two done flirting?” Matt snaps. “We have to go!” 

Lance takes Keith’s hand, pulling him from the room. 


	10. I Wish I Could See You- Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Hurt/comfort  
Angst  
Eventual Smut  
Emotional hurt/comfort  
Galra Keith but not like canon  
Shapeshifter Keith  
I have art for his design around somewhere that inspired this in part...  
Flirty Klance  
Finger playing   
Lance is reassuring  
Implied insecure Keith

“There’s one thing I don’t understand.” 

Lance and Keith are sitting together at one of the cramped little tables on the rebel ship. It’s been a few days since their prison break courtesy of Matt and they’re finally starting to acclimate. 

“Just one?” Keith teases and Lance snorts, putting his cup down. “If you’re Galra why did they throw you in there with the rest of us? And what was up with the collar?” His eyes flick to Keith’s bare throat, to the strip of skin lighter than the rest.

“I’m only half Galra,” Keith says. “We can’t all shift but it’s one of my mother’s abilities. The collar prevented that.” He touches his throat, a ring of callus left behind from the iron. “It was a way of torturing me.”

Lance’s eyes narrow and his fingers flex around the cup. 

“Going too long without shifting is painful,” Keith explains. “Your joints start to ache, bones grinding together. It’s like having a mild version of the flu at all times. And they wanted everyone to know I was a traitor.” Keith spins his tea, more interested in staring at it than drinking it. 

“They liked to put a bit in my mouth and parade me through the prison when I wasn’t locked in isolation.” He bites the inside of his cheek and Lance brushes his finger over the back of Keith’s knuckle. The table they’re sharing is small, their knees bumping underneath it. The mug Lance is cradling in his hands is close enough he can touch Keith’s without letting go of his own. He’d be touching Keith even if the table wasn’t so cramped. It’s been hard to stop now that he can. 

“Have you ever heard of The Blade of Marmora?” Keith asks softly and Lance shakes his head. Keith nods like he’d expected as much. His fingers tap idly against the cup for a moment, brushing back and forth against Lance’s. 

“They’re a rebel group of Galra fighting against the Empire. My mother is a Commander within their ranks. She trained me and half the soldiers there.”

“So you’re a rebel. Just like them.” Lance gestures with his head to the collection of lone human and aliens behind him. 

Keith glances at them and shrugs, looking uncomfortable. 

“I guess.”

They haven’t stopped watching him since he arrived. The human especially glares any time they make eye contact and Keith looks away. 

“They don’t trust me,” Keith says. If Lance didn’t know any better he’d say Keith was almost ashamed. His expression shifts and warps as he struggles to control his feelings.

“I wish-” He bites his lip and doesn’t finish the sentence. Lance sees the prick of a fang before it recedes.

“Wish they didn’t judge you based on your blood? And instead based their judgements on your actions?”

Keith is startled by Lance’s insight. He flushes and looks away. “Yeah,” he admits softly, nail scraping along the cup. “I’m not their enemy. Even if they don’t understand that.” He looks up at Lance and he’s once again struck by how pretty Keith is. Especially now that they’ve both had a much needed bath and haircut. 

Lance catches one of Keith’s fingers between his own. “I know.” He hooks his finger around Keith’s. 

“I know it’s bullshit but it doesn’t matter. If they make me pick between them or you I’m picking you.” Lance lifts the mug with his free hand, sipping on his tea, still holding Keith’s finger.

Keith’s head snaps up and Lance lifts an eyebrow in surprise at the reaction. 

“What?” Lance stares at him blankly.

Keith glances at the rebels again, spine still ramrod straight. 

“Why?” he sputters. 

Lance frowns, setting down his cup. 

“Because they weren’t with me through it all.” He wiggles Keith’s finger. “You were.” Keith still looks baffled. 

“You were the one who talked me through the nightmares in the prison,” he says slowly. “And the anxiety attacks. You were the one who helped me through it, who gave me something to fight for.” He stares at Keith. “You were what kept me sane, kept me alive, reminded me life was worth fighting for.” He holds Keith’s gaze, wishing he’d known what his eyes looked like sooner. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I love them, I do.” He gestures at the rebels with his head. “Matt is my friend’s brother.” He shakes his head. “But he isn’t you.” He sits back in his chair. “Choosing between you and them isn’t going to end well for them.

“Because I’d choose you in a damn heartbeat,” he says flatly. “Every time. 

“They got me out but you kept me alive Keith. _ You _ did that. And I don’t care who or what you are. I owe you for that.” He sips his tea, watching Keith carefully. 

“Besides, you have a better sense of humor than they do.” His eyes sparkle over the rim of his cup. Keith’s imagination didn’t do them any kind of justice. Lance was wrong. He’s beautiful. 

“I’m never going to understand you am I?” he asks softly.

Lance shrugs. “Eh, there’s not much to understand. I’m really not that complicated.”

Keith hums softly, his finger stroking over Lance’s as their knees bump. “Somehow I doubt that.”

Lance smiles behind his cup, eyes sparkling. After a moment his expression sobers and he slides his fingers between Keith’s where they’re wrapped around his mug. 

“I’m not gonna leave you alone okay?” He dips his head, pressing closer and lowers his voice. “You don’t have to be alone anymore. Not if you don’t want to be.”

Keith hates how much that makes him want to cry. He just nods, squeezing Lance’s fingers between his own.

“You gonna take me home too?”

Lance flushes and sits back. “I- I mean-”

Keith seems to realize what he’s said and immediately backpedals. “I didn’t mean it like- I meant to the Blades. I meant take me back. To the-” He flushes a deep red that’s far too pretty to be fair. 

Lance’s lips form a soft ‘o’, his fingers suddenly warm between Keith’s. He clears his throat, reaching for a tease on reflex. 

“What, you don’t want to meet my parents?”

Keith snorts, his depressed mood from earlier beginning to lift. “After all you’ve told me about them? Yeah,” he admits and a trickle of warmth settles into his voice. “Yeah I would.”

Lance’s fingers thread between Keith’s until they’re all but holding hands. “Then it’s settled.”

Keith's head tips to the side and he smiles, dark hair slipping forward. Lance has to resist the urge to tuck it back if only to know what it feels like. 

“Guess I’m taking you home to meet my parents.” 

Keith grins, flashing his fangs. “Think they’ll mind the fangs?”

Lance snorts, waving his free hand through the air. “Nah, Marco went through a vampire phase when he was a kid. They won’t so much as blink.”


	11. I Wish I Could See You- Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know this is really short but hey, they share a bed now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Hurt/comfort  
Angst  
Eventual Smut  
Emotional hurt/comfort  
Galra Keith but not like canon  
Shapeshifter Keith  
I have art for his design around somewhere that inspired this in part...  
Nightmares  
Cuddles  
Flangst

Lance has gotten used to nightmares waking him. His and Keith’s both. He’d become accustomed to the sound of them. And he’d become a shallow sleeper in the prison. So when Keith has a nightmare on their third night, he's not surprised. 

Keith twitches in the cot next to Lance’s, making a small noise. There’s a furrow between his brows and Lance can hear him grinding his teeth. 

“Keith,” he whispers, voice thick with sleep. 

Lance sits up, rubbing at his eyes. “Hey, wake up  _ corazon _ , it’s okay.” 

Keith twitches again, clawed fingers curling against the sheet. Lance slips out of bed, hissing at the cold metal against his feet. He sinks to the floor between their cots and begins to sing the old lullaby he taught Keith. The same one Keith has sung to him a dozen times through the vents when he’d had his own nightmares. 

The song lulls Keith to wakefulness, his body slowly relaxing and the shift fading. He opens his eyes and Lance watches a tear roll over the bridge of his nose. 

“Scoot,” Lance whispers, leveraging himself up onto the bed. 

Keith makes what room he can, immediately curling against Lance’s chest and holding him tightly. 

“It’s okay. We’re out.” He runs his fingers over Keith’s hair, down his back, over his arm, touches him however he can. 

He murmurs words of comfort and reassurance he’s said a thousand times. Except this time they’re accompanied by the press of his lips, the heat of his fingers, the strength of his heart beating under Keith’s ear. It’s the only thing that Keith believes. In the dark he can’t tell where they are, caught between sleep and awake he isn’t sure they’ve finally made it out. And then Lance’s fingers are stroking over his shirt, his skin and he knows. 

Keith doesn’t say anything, just tangles their legs together, pulling Lance closer and lets the sound of his voice put him back to sleep. 

They spend every night thereafter sharing the same bed. 


	12. I Wish I Could See You- Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Throw back. Last chapter for this.

Lance stares at him in the shadow of the hallway, watching as Keith’s eyes shift, pupils expanding in the dark to see him. He catches him by the face, Keith grasping his wrist as Lance crashes into him, both of them stumbling until Keith’s head cracks off the wall. 

Lance tries to break the kiss to apologize but Keith drags him back in, hands in his hair and clothes. Lance needs no encouragement to plaster Keith to the wall, shoving one hand under his shirt, groping at his back. They’re both starved for contact, hungry, eager to touch and be touched in return.

The shift ripples through Keith in waves, changing him again and again. Lance can feel fangs prick at his lips before receding and coming back. He grips at Keith’s hips, grabbing a fistful of material and using it to haul Keith up in his arms, pinning him to the wall. Keith wraps strong legs around Lance’s hips with a whine, tipping his chin up as Lance kisses over his throat. His skin colors in waves and Lance pulls back to watch. Keith’s ears sharpen into points before rounding out again, changing out of his control. Lance traces out the shape of them with the pads of his fingers.

“Does that always happen?” he whispers and his voice is wrecked. 

Keith swallows thickly, grasping at the material on Lance’s shoulders, trying to think clearly. 

“Don’t know,” he gasps finally lowering his head and opening his eyes. They’re glassy and dark, gold flicking through the purple and back again. “Never done this before.” 

Lance growls, fingers flexing on Keith’s ass and making him arch forward. “God, I can’t wait to  _ ruin  _ you.” The words are a low gravel against Keith’s throat as Lance kisses him there. He drags his teeth across fair skin, tasting him and leaving throbbing bruises in his wake. 

Keith whines, fingers scrabbling at Lance’s back and in his hair, pulling him closer, holding him there. His body arches, hips searching for friction with a needy noise and Lance makes up his mind. 

With one hand snaking up Keith’s back and into his hair, Lance loops the other beneath his hips. Keith clings to him as Lance pulls him away from the wall, carrying him to their shared bed. 

They pass one of the rebels on the way, Keith’s tail slipping free to wind around Lance as he whines and moans, body still rocking against him. 

The soldier flushes and Lance grins at him over Keith’s shoulder, tightening his grip in dark hair. Keith’s head is pulled back as Lance squeezes his ass, giving him the leverage he needs to drag his confined cock over Lance’s stomach. The sound he makes is long and loud and the soldier scrambles away. 

Lance eases his grip in Keith’s hair, petting him. He lets Keith tuck his face back against his throat where he wants to be, damp breath hot against his neck. 

“Good boy,” he praises softly and Keith shudders.

“Lance.” It comes out a desperate whine. “I need…”

“I know,” he soothes, running a hand down Keith’s back. “We’re almost there.” 

Keith’s fingers curl in Lance’s shirt, claws snapping out to punch through the fabric. 

“I’m sorr-”

“Don’t be,” Lance says, cutting him off gently. He tips his chin to whisper in Keith’s ear. The ghost of his breath makes the skin darken and the shell point.

“It’s really fucking hot.” 

Keith whines again and Lance starts walking.

“Love the way you sound,” he murmurs. “That you’re so turned in you can’t control the shift.” He can feel Keith’s embarrassment and catches flashes of dusty purple rippling over Keith’s arms and neck. He pushes dark hair away to better watch. 

“You’re so beautiful,” he praises. “Want you so bad.” His fingers dip beneath Keith’s shirt, finding where his tail meets his lower back. Keith shivers and a surprised keen builds in his throat. 

Lance strokes over the sensitive skin, dipping under his tail to press at his ass. 

“Can’t wait to teach you. To touch you.” 

Keith flushes hotly, another tremor racing through him as he hides his face against Lance’s throat. 

“Lance, I can’t-”

He’s still trying to control it, to keep the shift at bay. 

Lance steps into the room, the door shutting behind them with a hiss. 

“Let me see you,” he whispers, kissing Keith’s hair. 

Embarrassed, Keith slowly sits back, his legs tightening around Lance’s waist to keep his balance. 

“Show me,” Lance says again. He can feel him fighting the shift and he doesn’t want that. 

“Baby, let go.” His fingers stroke over Keith’s throat and Keith tips his chin up, inviting more touch. “You’re safe. It’s okay.” 

Keith’s mouth drops open with a groan, fangs fully extending. Lance can feel the barbs of his tail digging into him where they’ve finally made an appearance. 

His skin turns violet all over, ears coming to full points. 

Lance passes his thumb over Keith’s lip, pressing against a fang.

“So beautiful,” he murmurs, leaning in to press a kiss to his open mouth. 

Keith finally opens his eyes. They’re brilliant gold, pupils expended in the dim light. 

“You’re so beautiful Keith. No matter what you look like.” He kisses over the dark bruise he’s already left behind. 

“Want you either way.” 

Keith pulls him back up, smothering him with a kiss that’s all heat. 

Lance holds him tightly through it, their bodies moving together. 

“I love you,” Keith gasps as the kiss breaks, like the words are startled out of him. “I know that’s stupid and maybe it’s the lust or the trauma talking but I  _ love _ you.” He wraps his arms around Lance’s neck, holding him tightly. 

“You didn’t leave me.” He presses his face to Lance’s neck. Lance can feel the tension in his body, the wetness of his tears against his throat. It hadn’t occurred to him that Keith was scared. 

After all their time together he’d always seemed so strong, so unaffected by the situation and all they’d been through. 

The realization that the memories haunt him has Lance holding him tightly, crushing Keith to his chest. 

“Oh sweetheart,” he breathes. “You are  _ safe. _ ” His voice is fierce. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. I’m not gonna let them take you. I’m not gonna let them hurt you.” He sinks onto the hard cot, Keith still cradled in his lap. 

Lance’s arms are burning. 

“I’ve loved you for months,” Lance whispers. “And maybe you’re right.” He pushes Keith’s hair back to better look at him. “Maybe it’s the situation and the trauma.” Keith looks up at him with vulnerable eyes, like he’s afraid Lance is going to tell him to leave. “But that doesn’t change how I feel about you.” His thumb strokes over Keith’s cheek, wiping away his tears. 

“I care about you. I want you to be happy. I want you to feel good.” He searches Keith’s eyes, a furrow between his brows. “I want you to be safe. We don’t have to do anything. I know this can be a lot. Just promise to tell me if it’s too much or too far.”

Keith slides his hand over the side of Lance’s throat and up to cup his jaw. 

His heart is beating firm and steady in his chest. He feels more grounded and sure of himself than he’s felt since before he was taken. 

“Teach me.” 


	13. Pineapple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James makes a rude comment to his boyfriend while Lance is over. And then Lance remembers a sub is a type of sandwich.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spite wrote this in five minutes. I have no idea what it is or why but it happened and now you have to deal with it.

“Why don’t you go make me a sandwich?” James says. There’s laughter in his voice but it’s mocking. On the couch next to him Lance bristles. 

James’s boyfriend stands awkwardly in the doorway, not sure what to say. He opens his mouth, glancing uncomfortably between James and Lance before forcing a smile. And then Lance remembers a sub is a kind of sandwich and he has an idea. 

He whips out his phone and starts searching, cutting off anything Keith might say to try and smooth over the situation. 

“Well I mean it’s a little soon,” Lance drawls, diverting all of the attention onto himself, “but okay.” Keith stares at him curiously but for the moment Lance ignores him, focus solely on James. 

“What size are you and how do you feel about latex?” He starts pulling up latex masks and scrolling through them, making no effort to hide what he’s doing. 

He can feel Keith peering over his shoulder.

“And would you prefer a spider or ball gag? I’d love to keep that pretty mouth available for use but it’s up to you.” He starts sorting through those too, eyeing Jame’s mouth. “Oh, and we’ll need to talk about safe words. Do you have one yet?” 

He looks at James directly, forcing eye contact but it’s taking James a moment to catch up. Lance doesn’t need any more encouragement to keep going.

“And what about cuffs verses spreader bars?” he asks. “I have both at home but I know some people have a preference. Both should fit you, you have slender wrists. 

“And we’ll need to talk about hard and soft limits as well as boundaries and what you are or aren’t comfortable with as well as your needs. I’m pretty much up for anything but if there’s something you’re not-”

“Dude, what the hell are you talking about?” James finally collects enough sense to string words together, sitting up straight. 

Lance blinks at him dumbly, the phone held aloft on an article about caring for your sub. 

He looks blankly back at James like  _ he’s _ the one not making sense. 

“You said make me a sandwich so I thought you were talking to me and just weren’t comfortable enough to say it while Keith was in the room. Do you not want to be my sub?” He tilts his head curiously. “Or were you talking to him?” He points his thumb at Keith. “Cause I mean that’s valid too. I’m poly so I’m down if you want it to be me but if not I can teach him. I’ve been dominated by a number of both men and women in my time and let me tell you-” 

“Get out.” 

Lance cuts off the rest of what he’d been meaning to say, playing innocent. “Are you sure? I was just-”

James surges to his feet. “Get out of my house. That’s disgusting-”

James marches off in a huff, cheeks blazing, Lance staring blankly after him. 

He stands slowly, pocketing his phone as a door slams from somewhere down the hall. Anger is still curling hot in his gut and he finds himself scowling.

“You need a new boyfriend,” he says slowly, scooping his coat up off the coffee table where he’d left it. 

“Can it be you?” 

Lance’s head snaps around to Keith who’s blushing and obviously hadn’t intended to say that. 

Lance blinks a few times before the words settle in his brain. He shrugs lazily and smiles. 

“Only if you break up with the douche canoe over there.” He gestures down the hall. “I’m not gonna be the other man.” 

Without breaking eye contact Keith half turns down the hall to where James has gone off to sulk. 

“Hey James?” he shouts. “I’m leaving you.” 

Lance tries not to laugh and only half succeeds. 

“That works.” He offers Keith his arm. “Can I buy you dinner?”

Keith hesitantly settles his hand in the crook of Lance’s elbow, letting himself be led from the apartment. He picks up his jacket and keys on the way. 

“I’d like that.”

As Lance leads him down the stairs he asks, only half joking. 

“So do  _ you _ want to have a talk about boundaries and safe words?” he teases. 

Keith snorts, hiding a laugh behind his hand. His eyes sparkle and not for the first time Lance realizes how pretty Keith is. James really didn’t deserve him.

“Sure. And it’s pineapple.”

Lance nearly swallows his tongue. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BDSM tones  
James is an ass  
Temporary Keith/James  
BAMF Lance  
Lance takes no shit  
Get together


	14. Don’t Touch Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Galra soldier has infiltrated the castle to kidnap Keith. Lance is having none of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is half formed and poorly executed but I’m too tired to expand it any further.
> 
> Tags:  
Flangst  
Hurt/comfort  
Hurt Keith  
Protective Lance  
BAMF Lance

“No, no!” Lance slams his hand into the barrier, screaming as the Galra grabs Keith by the head, cracking it off the barrier and holding him there, a fist in his hair.

Lance batters himself against the barrier sealing him off from the rest of the room. 

“Don’t you touch him!” Pain explodes in his fist so he drives his shoulder into it, desperate to break through. Keith’s eyes are bright with pain, a scant inch away from Lance’s and there’s nothing Lance can do. 

He stares straight into Keith’s eyes. “I am coming for you, do you hear me?” He claws at the barrier as Keith squirms. “I will come for you.”

The Galra drives a jab into Keith’s kidney and he buckles, the hand in his hair the only thing keeping him upright. Lance can see the fear in Keith’s eyes, the pain, and rage burns through him. 

“I’ll kill you!” Lance screams, beating himself bloody as Keith is dragged from the room. “I’ll fucking kill you, you son of a bitch. Let him go!” 

The doors hiss shut and Keith is gone. 

“Pidge!” He slaps the barrier knowing Pidge can see him in the cameras. “Get me the fuck out of here!” 

~

Lance rounds the corner in time to see the Galra throw Keith across the hall like a rag doll. They’re almost to the escape pods, having deviated from where the shuttle had latched onto the castle like a parasite. Apparently the soldier sent to kidnap Keith had drilled straight through the Castle’s exterior. 

Shiro managed to cut him off as the Galra tried to drag Keith back to the ship and Pidge had shut down what doors they could. With the virus the soldier had managed to upload they’re having difficulty getting the castle to respond. Large parts of the main systems are still malfunctioning but they’re doing the best they can. At the very least the soldier hasn’t managed to escape yet.

Keith hits the wall hard, sliding to the floor where he lands in a heap. 

The Galra advances on him, his foot coming down on Keith’s leg as he tries to crawl away and Lance hears bone snap. Rage consumes him as Keith screams and Lance opens fire. 

A cluster of shots burst the man’s chest open, forcing him to stumble back as Lance lays into him with the Altean rifle he’d found. He doesn’t realize he’s screaming until the body hits the floor and he finally takes his finger off the trigger. Silence fills the hall. He advances, gun still held aloft as blood pools across the floor beneath the body.

He pumps three extra shots into the corpse for good measure, shaking with rage. 

“Don’t fucking touch him,” he growls before tossing the gun aside.

Keith is on the floor, face pressed to the steel and Lance sinks down next to him. When he reaches for Keith he flinches and a pained noise lodges itself in Lance’s throat. Violet eyes meet his and the fear abates, Keith struggling to sit up at the sight of him. He topples and Lance catches his face in his hands. He’s streaked with blood. 

“Shh,” he soothes, scooting closer as Keith drops his head to Lance’s shoulder and cries. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.” He all but pulls Keith into his lap, cradling him, careful of his broken leg. “I’m not gonna let them hurt you,” he whispers. “Never.” He wants to hold Keith tighter but he’s afraid of injuries he can’t see.

“They can’t have you,” he whispers as Keith shakes in his arms. “I won’t let them.” 

Keith sits up, dragging Lance into a kiss, wet with tears. He drops kiss after kiss to Lance’s mouth, shaking with fear.

“Thank you.” His voice trembles and Lance holds him closer, pressing his lips to Keith’s hair. 

“I won’t let them take you,” he whispers again. “I’ll die first.” His fingers card through Keith’s hair but Keith flinches and Lance smells blood. When he pulls his hand back his fingers are wet. 

“Jesus, what did he do to you?” He tries to scoop Keith into his arms to stand but Keith will not be moved. 

“I have to get you to the med bay.”

“No,” he chokes, his face against Lance’s throat. He hasn’t stopped shivering. 

“Keith, you’re bleeding,” he says softly. “You’re hurt. Your leg-”

Keith shakes his head, clinging to Lance. “Just- hold me,” he manages and Lance realizes he’s terrified. He settles back onto the floor.

“Okay,” he soothes. “It’s okay. I’m here.” He adjusts their positions, pulling Keith as close as he can, wrapping him in his arms and bracketing him with his legs, trying to make him feel safe. 

“I’m sorry. I tried to get to you sooner. I’m sorry.” 

Keith shakes his head and sniffles. “Not your fault.” 

Blood trickles down past his ear and Lance can feel it, warm and wet against his shirt. 

“I’m gonna poke okay? I need to know how bad it is.” Keith tenses in his arms. “Come on Samurai, don’t let me get this far just to have you bleed out in my arms.” He hopes the tease will wade some of the tension gripping Keith so tightly.

Keith makes a sound like a wet laugh and finds the strength to pull away. 

“I’m okay.” 

Lance sobers, his hands still holding Keith steady. 

“You’re not,” he says gently. “You’re really not.” 

He touches Keith’s cheek, tracing the line of blood up into his wet hair. Moving slowly he sees a flash of bone through the red and curses. 

“Fuck, your scalp is torn.” He strips out of his jacket, yanking his shirt up over his head and pressing it over the wound. 

Keith makes a yelp of pain and Lance holds him still. 

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. But you’re lucky you didn’t rip an artery or something.” His stomach twists painfully. 

“Quiznack. I really have to get you to the medbay now. Hold still. I’m gonna have to tie this down.” 

Using the sleeves of his shirt he binds the material over the wound as best he can before scooping Keith into his arms. 

“This is gonna hurt,” he murmurs.

Keith is limp in his arms, his broken leg throbbing at the angle as Lance stands.

“Thank you,” Keith rasps, all but blind with the sleeves over his eyes. 

Lance holds him close, turning back the way he came. He leaves the body of the Galra on the floor behind him. 

“I got you buddy.” 


	15. Cat Keith- Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance wakes up to a sleeping cat on his chest. And where the hell is Keith?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Cat Keith  
Cuddles  
Flangst  
Comfort  
Hurt/Comfort  
Emotional Hurt/Comfort  
Get Together

It’s the yowling that wakes him. In his half asleep state Lance doesn’t even question it, just gets out of bed, slaps his hand on the panel to open the door, and lets the cat in. Some part of his mind thinks he’s back home with Sprinkles, their fat grey cat. He’d always used to sit outside the door and demand it be opened for cuddles, waking half the house if Lance didn’t open the door. Lance isn’t sure how he’d managed to forget tonight.

“Sorry Sprinkles,” he mumbles, crawling into bed after him. He curls up on his chest, purring loudly and Lance falls asleep with one hand wrapped around him.

~

The first thing Lance thinks when he wakes up that morning with a sleek black cat on his chest is 

“You’re not Sprinkles.” The cat yawns and stretches, little toes spread wide before hopping onto the floor, waiting for Lance to follow. He meows with discontent as Lance fails to stand. 

“Alright, alright, I’m coming. You’re probably hungry.” He tugs on his robe, the cat so insistent on breakfast Lance doesn’t get the time to change. 

The cat leads him all the way to the kitchen, Lance yawning sleepily behind him. He zones out as he preps two bowls of food goo, the cat leaping up onto the counter and yelling at him as he does. 

“Hey, you don’t belong up there.” Lance snaps his fingers. “Off.” 

The cat screams, jumping down onto a stool. Lance rolls his eyes, setting the bowl on the counter and sitting down. 

“Fine.” He plops down in the seat next to him, beginning to eat his breakfast. 

Pidge and Hunk blink at him dumbly. 

Lance yawns, shoveling food goo into his mouth. 

“Where’s Keith?” he mumbles. 

“Seriously?” 

Pidge looks pointedly between Lance and the cat. 

“What?” Lance blinks dumbly, like he doesn’t understand. 

“The fuck did the cat come from?”

Lance looks down at the cat like he’s just now realizing how odd this is. 

“We’re in space dude. Where’d he come from?” Hunk scratches the little black cat on the head with a finger but is ignored. 

Lance shrugs. “I dunno. He showed up screaming outside my room last night.”

“And you just...let him in?”

“I thought he was Sprinkles!” Lance defends. He points a spoon at Hunk. “And to be fair, I was half asleep.” 

“He could have space rabies.” 

The cat lays their ears back and hisses at Pidge. They hiss right back and Lance hides a smile. 

“Seriously, he could be feral,” Pidge warns. “Put him back.”

“He’s not feral,” Lance pouts, reaching out to pet the cat. “And besides, back where? I don’t even know where he came from.” 

The door opens and Shiro walks in. “Has anyone seen Keith?” 

The little black cat leaps off the stool with a yowl, running over and rubbing against Shiro’s leg, talking animatedly. 

The other the Paladins blink dumbly. 

“Well I guess that answers that.” 

~

After running a barrage of tests they confirm the cat is indeed Keith. What they can’t figure out is how or why it happened. 

“Maybe he got into one of the Altean toys?” Allura asks, tipping her head. 

“Children’s toys turn you into animals?” Lance asks. 

“Only the fun ones!” Coran declares. 

Lance makes a face, going to pick up Keith. His mistake is doing it at an angle where Keith can’t see him coming.

He hisses, whirling and swipes at Lance with his claws. 

“Okay, okay.” Lance holds his hands aloft in surrender, blood welling in the deep cuts. Keith got him good. 

“I’m sorry.” He kneels down next to the table, getting eye level with Keith to everyone’s surprise. “I didn’t mean to violate a boundary,” he says gently, cradling his bleeding hand. “I shouldn’t have done that without asking. Are you okay? I didn’t mean to scare you.” 

Keith’s head lift and he rises from his crouched position, sniffing at Lance’s bleeding hand. 

Keith’s whiskers twitch and then he hops down from the table, bunting into Lance as Coran hands him a cotton swab. Keith walks around him, stroking his body against Lance’s side in apology. He makes a little noise, sounding contrite. 

“Hey, don’t apologize.” Lance dabs at the blood, the scratches stinging. “You were defending yourself. There’s nothing wrong with that.” Lance leans forward, elbows on his knees and smiles. “Never stop fighting okay?” 

“Mrow.” 

“Good boy.” Lance scratches him behind the ear and Keith presses his head into Lance’s hand, eyes closing. 

The others watch the entire exchange in surprise. 

“You’re good at that,” Allura smiles. 

“Yeah. We had a grumpy old house cat and my mom helped house some rescues for awhile. You just have to respect their boundaries and earn their trust. A lot of them were abused and slow to trust. Keith isn’t much different.” 

Keith huffs, displeased, and sticks his nose in the air.

“Sorry man, it’s true.” He looks up at Coran, fingers still idly scratching Keith’s head. “So how do we turn him back?”

“Oh we don’t. It will wear off on its own. Until then enjoy your new form,” he congratulates, patting Keith fondly. 

“Ah, I remember those days,” he says wistfully before wandering off down the hall. 

Shiro claps Lance on the shoulder. “Good, then you can babysit him until it wears off.” Keith yowls in protest and follows Shiro out of the room, complaining the entire way. 

“Well don’t complain to me,” Shiro says, voice fading into the distance. “I’m not your keeper anymore.”


	16. Cat Keith- Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonding time. Now it's Lance's turn to cradle Keith. Repeatedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Cat Keith  
Cuddles  
Flangst  
Comfort  
Hurt/Comfort  
Emotional Hurt/Comfort  
Get Together

Over the next few days they fall into a new routine, Lance the only one not weirded out by the strange situation. To his mind he’s seen weirder. So he sticks to the same patterns, just with a black cat padding silently after him. 

Keith takes to sleeping with Lance, needing someone bigger than him to activate the doors and Lance would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the company. He’d forgotten the comfort having an animal around could bring. 

The first time Lance had tried to pick him up, it had been a tense exchange but Lance had persisted. Slowly and steadily, but he had persisted. And now he’s created a monster. Keith is consistently in his lap, on his shoulders, or in his arms. Not that Lance minds. It’s nice to have something to do with his hands. 

Once they’re comfortable with that Lance puts Keith on his back. 

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” he promises, cradling Keith in one arm. “But if you don’t like it I’ll stop. Promise.” Keith lets out a low growl but doesn’t move. His tail flicks nervously. 

Lance carefully scratches at Keith’s chest and up under his chin. Slowly he begins to relax and Lance smiles. 

“Yeah, see? Not so bad huh?” He rubs Keith’s tummy and if cats could give the stink eye Keith does. Lance laughs. 

“Happy kitty,” he teases now that Keith is purring. He runs his fingers over Keith’s wedge shaped head, the tip of one finger stroking gently over one velvety ear. He’s so  _ soft _ . 

“I have to admit, I’m looking forward to having you back,” he says. “But I’m enjoying having you around as a cat.” 

Keith blinks up at him with big yellow eyes. 

“It’s been nice not fighting with you.” He scratches Keith’s chest before smoothing down the fur. A small frown creases his features and Keith tilts his head. 

“Why  _ do _ we fight all the time?” His fingers slow and Keith lets out a small noise. 

Lance looks down at him. “I don’t want to fight with you.” 

Keith leans up and licks at Lance’s chin, one small stroke, rough as sandpaper. 

“I’ll do better,” he promises softly. “I’ll try not to push your buttons. I don’t mean to be so antagonistic.” He winces. “I’m not...I don’t really get you, you know?” He sits down on the edge of the bed, Keith still cradled in his arms. 

“You’re hard to read and I’m trying to figure out how to be your friend.” His expression falls. “Guess I’m not doing a great job at that.”

Keith lifts his head, bunting his cheeks into Lance’s chin until he smiles. 

“Alright, alright, I get it.” He pats Keith on the head.

Keith purrs loudly, settling into Lance’s arms once again and closing his eyes. He’s perfectly content to nap where he is, nestled in the crook of Lance’s arms. 


	17. Cat Keith- Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The castle receives a distress call and Voltron heads out. Keith is forced to stay behind and wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My phone is on the fritz and I'm bored so apparently I'm updating all the things. Enjoy.
> 
> ~  
Tags:  
Cat Keith  
Cuddles  
Flangst  
Comfort  
Hurt/Comfort  
Emotional Hurt/Comfort  
Get Together

It’s been almost a week since Keith was turned into a cat and Lance is starting to miss him. Coran has promised Keith will likely change back any day but Lance is still restless. Especially when the castle receives a nearby distress call from a colony saying they’re under attack. It sounds bad. They can hear laser fire and faking rubble before the transmission cuts out. 

Keith is with them on the bridge as they all split for their lions. Keith bounds after Lance. 

“No! You stay put,” he scolds and Keith lets out a yowl of protest. 

“No,” he snaps, “you’re staying here where you’ll be safe! Do not argue with me.” He leaps for the zip line, Keith’s mournful cry following him down. 

~

Keith doesn’t know how long the attack lasts or the Paladins are gone. It feels like a day. A day he spends pacing up and down the control room with Allura and Coran shouting orders.

When things finally calm down Lance’s face shows up on the castle’s massive screen. 

Keith leaps up onto the console to start yelling at him. Allura shoos him off and he jumps to the floor, still yelling.

Lance looks exhausted but a small smile lifts the corner of his mouth. He knows he’s being scolded.

_ “Hey Keith,” _ he says softly. There’s dirt on his face under the helmet and beads of sweat. “_I’m okay. We’re all okay. Stop worrying.” _

Keith gives him another snappish meow and Lance looks to Allura. 

“_Is his helmet around?” _

Allura gives him an odd look. “Yes?”

“_Can you get it for me?” _

Coran nods and a few minutes later he’s back bearing the red helmet in his hands. 

“_Cool. Thanks Coran. Can you set it on the floor? I wanna talk to him and let him know everything is okay without running up your channel.” _

The moment the helmet is on the floor Keith is crawling under it. 

Lance vanishes from the screen, his voice coming through a private channel on the helmet. 

“_Hey Red, can you hear me?” _

Keith lets out a small meow, soothed by the sound of his voice. 

_ “Good boy. We’re all okay. It went well.” _ Keith can hear him smile. _ “Would have been nice to have you out there but we managed.” _

He goes on, explaining what happened and how they’re helping with the cleanup as much as they can before heading back. Keith is disgruntled by the delay but understands. 

He makes a noise, trying to ask if Lance is okay. 

_ “Yeah,” _ he murmurs, like he knows what Keith is asking. _ “I’m just-” _ Keith can practically hear him rubbing at his eyes. _ “We keep pulling bodies out of the rubble, _” he whispers. Keith winces. He rubs his cheek along the inside of the helmet, trying to comfort. 

_ “I’m ready to be home,” _Lance admits.

Keith can understand the sentiment. He’s ready to have Lance home too. 


	18. Cat Keith- Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone gets back safe and Keith demands attention. Lance needs cuddles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Cat Keith  
Cuddles  
Flangst  
Comfort  
Hurt/Comfort  
Emotional Hurt/Comfort  
Get Together

When the Paladins finally return Keith darts between them all, checking them over before standing on Lance’s boot and yelling. He stretches up, tapping a paw against Lance’s thigh until Lance looks at him, haggard and wan. 

He scoops up Keith, cradling him in one arm and heads for his room without comment. The others watch him go. 

He strips out of his armor, pulling on the softest over-sized shirt he has and sweats before crawling into bed, not bothering to shower. 

Keith lets loose a series of curious noises, demanding answers Lance doesn’t have the energy to give. 

“Not not right now buddy.” He scratches Keith behind the ear. “I’m okay. I just really need a cuddle.”

He lays on his side letting Keith sniff and check him over for injuries, the weight of the mission dragging on him. It was a long day. 

Keith circles him from head to toe before walking up Lance’s leg, little paws pressing into Lance’s hip and stomach before padding up over his ribs, standing on his shoulder. 

“Prrrow?” 

Lance strokes a thumb over Keith’s forehead and Keith bumps into his hand before hopping down and curling up under Lance’s chin, letting him loop an arm around him to pull him close. 

“I missed you,” he murmurs.

Lance buries his nose in Keith’s fur, listening to him purr. 

“Thanks.”

Keith purrs louder. 

  
~

That night the enchantment wears off and Keith shifts back. He’s lying naked in Lance’s bed, sweaty and panting. Every part of him hurts and burns and aches. His muscles prickle with a thousand needles. He’s been stretched and compressed, his bones fractured and reformed. His skin itches and he shifts uncomfortably, trying to relieve the pain. 

“Keith?” Lance blinks awake and sits up, groggy, rubbing at his eyes. His voice is a sleepy gravel. 

“Sorry.” Even Keith’s teeth hurt. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

Lance rubs at his eyes again and props himself up on an arm. 

“Are you okay?”

Keith makes a pained noise, trying to find the strength to move. 

“Hurts,” he manages, flexing a hand slowly. The bones feel like they’re grinding together. 

Lance sits up, fully awake and tossing the sheet over Keith’s hips, trying to give him some privacy. 

“Can I help?”

Keith flexes his fingers again. It isn’t as bad this time. He stretches his jaw, feeling it pop. 

“I don’t know. I think movement helps but it’s like nothing fits right under my skin. It’s taking awhile to slip back into place.”

“Okay. Do you want to sit up?”

“Not yet, just...give me a minute.” He takes a number of slow, deep breaths, letting his ribs pop and slowly moving his body one piece at a time. He wiggles his toes, flexes his feet, bends his knees until he can finally sit up. He gives his neck one loud, final crack and sighs, shaking out his arms. He can feel Lance’s eyes on him.

“Was it like that before? The first time?”

Keith nods, rubbing at his neck. “Yeah. Hurt like hell.”

“I’m sorry.” He can only imagine what that must have been like, how terrifying.

“‘s okay.” Keith plucks awkwardly at the sheet. 

“Do you need anything?” 

“I’m starving.” 

Lance struggles out of the blanket, kicking it off and sliding his feet into his slippers. 

“Okay. Wait here. I’ll be back.” He scrubs a hand back through his hair and yawns. “Oh, there’s sweats in the drawer if you want them,” he says like waking up to a naked Keith in his bed is a perfectly normal occurance. 

“Lance, you don’t-”

Lance waves away his protests. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.” He straightens out his pajamas and heads for the kitchen, the door to the room hissing shut behind him. 

He finds Shiro sitting at the counter doing much the same. They nod at each other and Lance puts on the Altean version of kettle, setting Keith’s favorite tea to steep.

His fingers flex on the counter as he waits.

“He doesn’t...have anyone.” He looks to Shiro for answers. “Does he.”

Shiro stares into his long cold tea. “No, he doesn’t.”

Lance nods like he’d expecting that. His expression firms and he straightens his shoulders stubbornly. 

“Well now he’s got me too.”

Shiro holds his gaze for a moment before his posture relaxes and a smile curves his mouth. Something warm unfurls in Lance’s chest as he realizes he hasn’t been found wanting. 

“I take it he’s awake?”

Lance nods. 

His eyes are warm and soft in the dark. “Don’t hurt him,” he says gently. “Keith doesn’t have many people he cares about. Don’t take that trust lightly.”

“I won’t.” He runs his fingers idly through the steam. “If he decides he wants that.” He stares down at Keith’s tea, removing the bag and tossing it aside. “If he decides he wants me.” 

Shiro dumps the contents of his tea in the sink, rinsing the cup and putting it away. He puts a hand on Lance’s shoulder. 

“He does,” he says softly. His hand lingers for a moment before he leaves Lance to his own devices.

He gets a bowl of goo and some of Hunk’s leftovers and puts everything on a tray. By the time he gets back Keith is gone and Lance can’t help feeling disappointed. He didn’t know why he expected Keith to stay. He’d hoped...

He toes at the floor, chewing on his lip and feeling stupid before gathering his courage and taking the food to Keith’s room instead. He sets it all gently on the floor, out of the way where Keith won’t trip over it and knocks softly. He doesn’t stay to see if Keith is there, if he’ll open the door, just heads back to his room. He crawls back into what feels like a colder bed than before, missing Keith’s company.


	19. Cat Keith- Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry, the chapters for this got all mixed up but now, hopefully, everything is back in order.  
Keith deserves all the attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Cat Keith  
Cuddles  
Flangst  
Comfort  
Hurt/Comfort  
Emotional Hurt/Comfort  
Get Together

The next few days are painfully awkward. Lance doesn’t think anything should change but Keith is withdrawn and skittish. Lance feels like they’ve taken two steps forward and five steps back and it hurts. The only thing he can do is withdraw and wait for Keith to come to him. 

So he ignores him. Because that’s where Keith is comfortable, where he feels safe. There’s no malice behind it, just the desire to keep Keith from feeling trapped and cornered. 

Eventually it works. 

Lance drops onto the couch, kicking his feet up and opening a book on his tablet. Keith is sitting on the opposite end and Lance blatantly ignores him, opting for silence instead of conversation unless Keith is the one to initiate it. He can feel Keith’s eyes on him, feel the tension in him. He makes it through several chapters while Keith sits across from him watching and shifting on the cushions like he wants to come closer. His hands are flexing like he wants to reach for something and Lance has a sneaky suspicion what that is. 

As a cat Keith had been demanding for attention. There was never a moment where he wasn’t pressed against someone’s leg or in their arms. He’d gone from a solid week of nonstop attention to absolutely none. 

Lance doesn’t lift his eyes from the tablet.

“You know if you want attention all you have to do is come here.”

Keith startles, his cheeks warming. 

“I-”

Lance lowers the tablet in a way that manages to be condescending. “Keith, we’ve literally been sleeping together and cuddling for like, a week now.”

“I was a cat,” he defends, his cheeks darkening. 

Lance shrugs, going back to his tablet. “So it made it easier to ask for attention when you needed it.” He glances cautiously up at Keith. “Why is now any different?” 

Keith’s fingers curl against his legs but he doesn’t say anything. His shoulders hitch up to his ears like he’s afraid and embarrassed and for a moment Lance thinks he’s going to run. 

Lance softens his voice. “Why was it easier as a cat?” he asks carefully. 

Keith bites his lip, shifting uncomfortably. It takes a moment before he answers. “Because if anyone made fun of me for the things I needed I could brush it off as cat bullshit,” he says softly. “Now…”

“There’s no safety net,” Lance finishes. Keith flinches and Lance is left to wonder who left him so hurt. 

“If you want my attention all you have to do is ask for it,” Lance says gently. “No guilt, no strings.” Keith looks at him from under his bangs. “No mockery,” Lance promises. “I want to give attention as much as you need it.” His cheeks warm but he doesn’t look away. “But I don’t know what your boundaries are. So I need you to ask for what you need.”

“I don’t know how,” Keith whispers but his eyes are hungry.

Lance smiles softly. “All you have to do is come here.” He lifts his arm before turning back to his book so Keith doesn’t feel watched, to let him decide what he wants to do. 

Keith tenses for a moment and then finally scoots closer a little at a time. Lance waggles his fingers, inviting Keith in under his arm, attention still on his book. Keith finally does, settling awkwardly against Lance’s side. Lance seems unbothered by the tension in Keith’s body, just lifting his hand to scratch at Keith’s scalp, gently finger-combing his hair. 

Keith finally settles, the tension seeping out of him and Lance smiles, attention still on his tablet. 

Keith lets out a deep sigh, his head drifting onto Lance’s shoulder. He pulls his knees onto the couch, tucking his arm to his chest and Lance tips his head, letting it rest against Keith’s. 

If he were still a cat Keith would be purring. He’s never felt safer than in those moments in Lance’s arms when he’d been a cat. It’s nice to still have that. 

Lance doesn’t stop running his fingers through Keith’s hair until he falls asleep, tucked safely against Lance’s side like he belongs there. 

~

“Awww,” Hunk coos, immediately changing direction when he sees Keith and Lance cuddling on the couch. He goes starry eyed. “That’s adorable.”

“Hush,” Lance whispers. “He was brave enough to ask for attention when he needed it. Don’t make fun of him.” His grip on Keith tightens briefly. “He deserves cuddles. Stars know he’s been deprived of it long enough.” 

Keith’s heart skips in his chest but he doesn’t move. Lance’s fingers slide through his hair before settling around his shoulders again. 

Hunk’s expression softens. “That’s fair. Let me know if he needs a hug later okay? Or tell him when he wakes up that if he ever needs one I’m here.”

Lance nods. “I will. Thanks buddy.” 


	20. Cat Keith- Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wrap up time! Cuddles.

That night Lance wrings his hands together before just biting the bullet and knocking on Keith’s door. It opens a moment later and Lance has to fight the urge to swallow his tongue. 

“Uh, hi.”

Keith raises one curious eyebrow. “Hi?”

Lance’s fingers work themselves into knots before he finally sighs, straightening his spine. 

“Okay, let me know if this is weird, but I got really used to sleeping with company when you were a cat and I really miss it and you. So-” The words are trapped in his throat and he can’t shake them loose. His fingers ache. 

“You know what, never mind, it’s weird.” He waves his hands and tries to hurry away but Keith catches him by the sleeve drawing him up short. 

“I miss you too. It was...easier...to sleep. With someone there.” Keith’s fingers slowly fall from Lance’s sleeve. He smiles faintly. 

“If you wanted my attention,” he says softly, searching Lance’s eyes. “All you had to do was ask.” 

“Yeah, no, and it was terrifying.” 

Keith steps out into the hall, heading for Lance’s room, looking back over his shoulder. 

“Paid off didn’t it?” He slaps his hand to the panel, opening the door to Lance’s room and walking inside like it’s his own. It warms something in Lance’s chest and he smiles at the floor. 

“Yeah. I guess it did.” 

~

Lance makes himself comfortable, opening his arms and Keith snuggles in under Lance’s chin, his head on Lance’s chest, same as he’s used to. 

“Oof, you’re a lot heavier than you used to be,” Lance teases, fingers finding Keith’s hair and scratching at his scalp. 

“You’re exactly the same,” Keith says softly and Lance hides a smile in his hair. 

“Go to sleep Keith.”

He rubs his cheek against Lance’s shirt, falling asleep to the sound of Lance’s heart beating under his ear, strong and familiar. Or at least he tries to. As he’s about to drift off he hears Lance’s voice. 

“Why did you leave?” Lance asks softly. His thumb strokes over Keith’s arm. “That night, when it wore off.”

Keith opens his eyes, staring off into the dark. Guilt curls sour in his stomach. “I didn’t know how to stay,” he admits. His fingers curl against Lance’s chest, plucking at the fabric. “Or that you wanted me to.”

“Keith…” Lance sits up, turning to face Keith, dislodging him from his happy place. He makes a disgruntled noise until Lance leans over him, half bracketing Keith in the bed. 

“I care about you. A lot.” He swallows thickly. “And I am really scared that you don’t want me so I’m going out on a limb here by saying this.” His heart leaps into his throat. 

“I like your company. I like spending time with you. I want to go on dates with you. I want to kiss you.” He stumbles over the words, his throat tightening. “I want a relationship with you and I’m trying really hard not to scare you off but-”

“I know what you’re saying is really important but can we go back to the part about you wanting to kiss me?” Keith doesn’t mean for it to come out as breathy as it does. 

Lance bites his lip, his eyes darting to Keith’s mouth like he’s starving for it. 

“Can I kiss you?” he rasps. His breath stutters when Keith’s lips part to answer. 

“Yes.” 

Lance sinks into him, eagerness chasing away the anxiety and self-consciousness.

Anticipation coils in Keith’s stomach a moment before they make contact, spiraling loose as Lance kisses him. He lets out a deep sigh, hands lifting to tangle in Lance’s hair. 

Lance spends several minutes kissing Keith before he breaks away with a smile. He’s giddy, bubbles bursting in his stomach as he lays back down. He pulls Keith back on top of his chest. 

He hides a smile, one arm wrapping around Lance’s waist. 

“Wanna date you too,” he whispers. He can hear when Lance’s heart skips and can’t swallow his smile. 

“Go to sleep,” Lance manages, the words thick in his throat. His grip on Keith tightens for a moment.

Keith leans up, kissing Lance’s chin before settling, both of them falling asleep tangled up in one another. 


	21. Eternity Stuck With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance knows Keith was hurt by that comment about him sucking as an artist. Even though he’s hurt himself, Keith doesn’t deserve to feel that way. So Lance makes sure to tell him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on a post of Keith’s face where he looked super disappointed about his art.  
~  
Tags:  
Emotional Hurt/Comfort  
Hurt/Comfort  
Angst  
Flangst  
Reassurance  
Keith tells Lance the real reason he picked him during the game show  
Angst with a happy ending  
Get together

“You’re good you know.” Lance stretches his arms over his head, cracking his spine with a pained sigh. They’ve been sitting for hours, the air thick with things no one wants to say. After...whatever that thing with Bob was they’d flown in silence. Now they’ve finally found a place to stop and stretch their legs.

The others are doing laps, Pidge is lying on the ground spread eagle, and Coran is doing jumping jacks. Keith had drifted over to Lance, the two of them falling into step the way they used to.

“Huh?” 

Lance offers small smile at Keith’s confusion. His heart is racing in his chest, still hurting from before but he’d seen Keith’s face. He’d seen the doubt, the hurt, the anxiety that came from questioning a skill you thought you were good at. He knows what that feels like and knows Keith doesn’t deserve it. 

“Art,” he clarifies, stretching an arm across his chest as they go. “I didn’t know you could draw.”

Keith snorts derisively. “I can’t.”

Lance catches his arm before Keith can walk ahead of him. He slows to a stop, letting Lance pull him around. 

“Yes you are,” Lance says gently. “Charades is just hard. You’re having to draw something in thirty seconds or less while under stress and adrenaline.” A smile flickers across his face. “And it wasn’t exactly a normal game of charades.” His hand slowly slides from Keith’s arm, falling back to his side. 

“You’re good, he says again. “I know it. It was just a bad situation.” He smiles weakly. “And it would have helped if your teammate wasn’t an idiot.” 

Lance hates the way saying it makes him feel. It’s a wound he’s struggled with his whole life, not feeling smart enough, not good enough. The whole game show thing just brought it kicking and screaming back into the light from where Lance thought he’d buried it. 

“Sorry I let you down.” He resists the urge to reach out and squeeze Keith’s arm.

He turns and heads back to his lion, fiddling with the seals on his armor. He wants comfy clothes after that, needs something soft instead of the armor.

“Did you mean it?”

It takes Lance a moment to process what Keith is asking. Against his better judgement he turns to face Keith, his mind working to figure out what he's referring to. His head tips curiously, fingers pausing on a vambrace.

“Mean what?”

Keith’s cheeks are pink and his hands are curling into restless fists at his sides. Whatever it is he’s trying to say it isn’t easy. 

“I lied,” he says which only leads to more confusion on Lance’s part.

“About what?”

“When Bob asked me why I picked you,” Keith blurts. He winces immediately after. “God, I’m sorry. I just panicked. I didn’t mean-“ He rubs at the back of his neck, tugging at his hair in frustration. 

Lance closes the distance he’d put between them, worried. 

“Hey, it’s okay.” He runs his hands down Keith’s arms, trying to soothe. “I wouldn’t want to be stuck with me for eternity either.” The joke burns on his tongue. 

“It’s not,” Keith snaps, his eyes sharp, hands clutching uselessly at Lance in frustration. “I’m- fuck.” He grabs Lance by the face and kisses him. 

It’s awkward, a press of their mouths Lance isn’t ready for. 

“I’m sorry,” Keith chokes, the words thick with sincerity. “_That’s _ why I picked you.” He leans away and Lance can see the fear in his eyes. “Because I couldn’t stand the thought of you being trapped in there with me. You don’t deserve that. You deserve to go _ home_.” 

His eyes are wet and Lance’s brain is still struggling to catch up. His hand lifts on autopilot, wiping away Keith’s tears. 

“I don’t have anything left to lose.” His face contorts and Lance’s heart tugs sharply in his chest. He still can’t form words, can’t think past the heat of Keith’s lips against his own.

“You do,” Keith murmurs. “You family is still out there and they deserve to have you back.” He lifts his eyes and Lance feels his heart lodge in his throat. 

“They deserve to have your light back after so long in the dark without you.” He chokes on the words. “Trust me. I know.” 

Keith wipes gently at the tears on Lance’s cheeks he didn’t know were there. All Lance can do is stare. 

“You’re not stupid,” Keith says softly. “You see the world differently than most people and that’s okay. It’s not a flaw. It’s a strength.” His smile is warm. “One that’s pulled me out of a number of messes of my own making.” He shakes his head slowly, thumb running over Lance’s cheek. “I couldn’t do this without you,” he whispers. “And I’m sorry I never told you that.”

Lance’s brain finally kicks back into gear, a tangle of emotions hitting him faster than any cocktail and he sways on his feet. 

His voice comes out a dry rasp, heavy with want.

“Shut up.” He draws Keith into him with a gentle hand, pressing a kiss to his mouth. 

Keith melts against him, both of them finally on the same page. His fingers curl against Lance’s armor, trying to hold him there. 

“If I were to be stuck with anyone for eternity,” Lance whispers against his mouth. “I’d want it to be you.” His nose strokes along Keith’s as he tips his head. “I would have stayed for you.” 


	22. Making Wishes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is struggling to come to terms with being the black paladin. He finds a dark corner to deal with it, never expecting to be found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really needed more of Keith being insecure about being forced into the role of the black paladin. So have some comfort.
> 
> Angst  
Hurt/Comfort  
Emotional Hurt/Comfort  
Scared Keith  
Insecure Keith

It’s the gut wrenching sob that yanks Lance off course. 

He’d been going to see Blue, to try and talk to her again. When she’d shut him out it felt like she’d taken his heart with her. It was hard to let her go. 

Lance detours through a random door towards the sound, worried about whoever it is. 

Unlike the rest of the castle the lights in the room are dim, the sounds louder now that the door is open. 

There’s a figure in the corner, pressed small and close, head pressed to their knees. Lance’s eyes are still adjusting to the dark and it’s hard to see who it is. 

“You okay?” 

The figure bites back what might have been a scream, a distressed whine slipping free instead. Pale hands knot in dark hair as the figure cries. 

Lance’s lips part in surprise. 

“Keith?”

He shakes his head, throat too thick with tears to speak. 

Lance sets his jaw and steps inside, the door closing behind him. Keith flinches, the sobs shaking him as Lance kneels in front of him. 

“It’s okay,” he whispers. He gently touches Keith’s hand where it’s tangled in his hair, yanking it by the roots. 

He shuffles closer, gently lacing his fingers between Keith’s. He’s careful not to pull, just to hold it there. 

“Shhh,” he soothes, trying to coax Keith into uncurling. 

Keith’s only able to resist a moment longer before he’s unspooling like a thread. Lance tugs on his hand gently, threading their fingers together. Keith struggles on a breath before wrapping himself around Lance. 

Lance draws Keith against him, holding him close. He murmurs soft nothings into Keith’s ear, stroking a hand over his hair. He never expected to be here, never expected to be the one offering comfort when Keith needs it most. 

“You’re safe,” he reassures, cradling the back of Keith’s head. Strong fingers curl into his shirt as Keith cries. 

It takes him a long time to breathe, Lance talking him through it so he doesn’t cry himself sick. He’s nearly there already. 

“You’re okay.” He pets Keith’s hair back from his face, tucking it behind his ear. His face is wet with tears and damp with sweat, strands of hair tangled across his forehead. 

Lance gently dabs away the tears with his sleeve. 

Keith’s head is ducked low, cheeks mottled with shame and his crying. 

“I can’t do this,” he chokes, shoulders slumped. He’s small in Lance’s lap, scared, heart broken. 

Lance makes an educated guess. The lion change has been on his mind all day too. It’s why he’s still awake. 

“Yes you can.”

Keith shakes his head, more tears wetting his cheeks. “I can’t.” He lifts his head and those violet eyes are so terrified it breaks Lance’s heart. 

“I’m not a leader. I don’t- I don’t know how to _ do _ this.” Desperation curls through his voice and his hands curl into useless fists.

“I know,” Lance whispers, cupping Keith’s face. 

Keith flinches, feeling all the more like he doesn’t fit. 

“Shh,” Lance soothes, stroking his thumb over Keith’s cheek. “It’s not a bad thing.” 

Keith peeks at him from under his hair. 

“We didn’t know how to be paladins either.” A wry smile pulls at Lance’s mouth. “We figured that out didn’t we?” 

Keith snorts. “We had Shiro to help us.” His voice sounds like gravel. 

“We still do,” Lance counters. “And he did an amazing job of holding us together. But I know he was scared too.” Lance dabs at Keith’s cheeks again, trying not to irritate his skin any further. 

“None of us know what we’re doing Keith. We’re just making it up as we go. You are _ not _alone.” 

Keith hangs his head until it rests against Lance’s shoulder. “I wish it had been you,” he whispers. 

Lance flinches at the words, stunned. “I’m sorry?” He blinks dumbly. “You’re kidding right? I am the _ least _ qualified person to lead Voltron.”

“No you’re not.” Keith’s eyes are red rimmed when he looks up. “You’re good at this. At helping people. You’re the strategist, the one who can diffuse any situation with a joke and I’m just-” He looks away, fingers flexing in Lance’s shirt. “I’m just the broken kid from a broken home who’s too angry and hurt to trust anyone.” He spits the words with vitriol and Lance’s heart sinks. 

“You are so much more than that,” he says softly. He lifts Keith’s chin until their eyes meet. “We are not our pasts,” he whispers. “I’m just a boy from Cuba who was always second best from a poor immigrant family. I’m the dumbass who was never good enough.” 

Sadness weighs on Keith’s face and shoulders, dragging him down. “What a pair we make.” 

Lance tries to smile, withdrawing his hand. “A pair indeed.” 

Keith’s head tips forward, landing on Lance’s shoulder again and staying there. 

“I don’t know how to be the red paladin,” Lance admits. “I can’t even get her to talk to me.” 

“Give her time,” Keith murmurs. “Her heart's broken.”

Lance forces a laugh. “Then I guess we have something in common.” 

Keith presses his face to Lance’s neck, wrapping his arms around him. Lance is startled but hugs him back. 

“I’m sorry,” Keith whispers. “I wish…” He trails off. There’s no point in making wishes no matter how many stars there are. 

“I know.” He hugs Keith tighter. “I know.” 


	23. The Machines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team makes a harrowing escape from a planet under attack from a series of sentient machines. Lance and Pidge are stranded, Pidge taking the last of the survivors as Lance makes a distraction of himself. It's all he's got to give them time to get away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes this is basically a Mass Effect AU, no I'm not sorry. This basically has no closure at the end minus aftercare so it's going in the spice cabinet. I just want more of BAMF Lance okay. 
> 
> Tags:  
Flangst  
BAMF Lance  
Lance kills a Reaper  
The team helps  
Angst  
Happy ending

“Pidge! Get these people out of here!” The order dies on Lance’s lips as one of the sentient machines descends from the sky. It’s a burning star in the atmosphere and all Lance can do is stare, frozen as it lands. He can feel the impact even though it’s miles away. The thing is massive, bigger than the Castle of Lions, than anything he’s ever seen before. The technology isn’t Galran. Lance doesn’t know _ what _ it is.

“_Madre de Dios, _” he breathes, a piercing drone filling the air that leaves his ears ringing and rattles his bones. A red beam charges up at the front of the ship, the light and power slowly building. When it fires the sound is deafening. Half the city is leveled in seconds.

The paladins had managed to mostly evacuate who was left despite being under fire by ground troops.

None of them has seen anything like it. They’re humanoid but ashen like corpses. Some kind of flickering technology has been integrated into their systems until they’re more machine than man.

Lance and Pidge had collectively dubbed them techno zombies.

Everyone is back at the castle with as many refugees as they could carry except for Lance and Pidge.

A number of the machines have landed on the planet, destroying everything in their wake. The castle had taken a number of hits before being forced to retreat through a wormhole to avoid being destroyed.

Lance had seen the ships on the screens when they’d entered the system. It had done a poor job conveying the scale of the things. Now here he is, staring up at one and it’s like looking the reaper in the face.

_ “Lance get out of there!” _ Keith’s voice crackles through the static in Lance’s helmet. It sounds distant through the roaring in Lancems ears. He feels numb, the assault rifle in his hands lowering. He’s never felt so small.

“You should see the size of this thing,” he whispers. Buildings collapse all around him. The lone gun they’d managed to get working to defend the city barely does anything to stop the ship. The heavy blasts impact on the shields before dissipating harmlessly. 

Another blast charges and Lance is thrown into a wall as the ship turns its attention to the gun.

He feels a wave of searing heat, the light leaving him half blind before reality slams back into him.

“_-in your lion!” _ Allura orders.

Lance shoves his way to his feet, snapping out of it as sound focuses back in. He feels bruised all over and grinds his teeth.

“It’ll shoot her out of the sky!” He lays into the strange soldiers still trying to cut down civilians, backing towards where he’d left Blue.

“There’s nowhere to go,” he argues. And there isn’t. It’ll take a miracle for Lance and Pidge to get off the planet alive.

“_I’m going down there.” _

“Don’t you dare! Keith I swear to god-” A laser blast clips Lance across the helmet and he feels his teeth click around a grunt of pain.

“Just get out of here before they come after the castle.” His shoulders hits a wall of rubble as he takes up a position under better cover. “Take who you’ve got and go.”

“_I am _ not _ leaving you behind! _”

Lance clears the small pocket of soldiers that have him pinned down. Once clear he waves a small group of survivors in the direction Pidge had gone.

“Go, go, go!” He puts himself between them and stray fire as they run, flicking his shield up as he goes. He can taste blood and dust in the back of his mouth.

“_What about the castle’s guns?” _Keith asks, desperation tainting his voice.

“If you come back here you’ll get _ everyone _ killed,” Lance snaps. “The ship can’t take another hit.”

There’s a heavy pause as Allura considers it and Lance wants to rip his hair out. “_ We could take one _ , _ ” _ Keith says. Before Lance can argue Keith is interrupting again.

“_If we could hold out long enough to get a shot off could it give you enough time to get back?” _

“_Our targeting system is down! If we fire on the planet we could kill them!” _ Allura argues. _ “We won’t have any idea what we’re hitting.” _

That’s when Lance has an idea. “What about manual?”

_ “What? _”

Lance nearly trips as one of the half dead creatures launches itself at him. They grapple, the thing managing to shred part of his suit with long claws before Lance can throw it off. He lets out a pained cry, blood splattering across the ground as he lays into the soldier. He peppering it was laser fire until it’s unmoving.

“If I paint a target,” he gasps, “can you hit it!” There’s no answer and Lance doesn’t have time to explain. His throat is burning.

“Keith!”

_ “Yes! Yes it’ll work.” _

Lance turns. “Pidge! You helped set up that damn canon, where is the targeting system on it? I have an idea.”

Hearing the previous conversation Pidge snaps back. _ “Are you insane?” _

“I said I had an idea,” Lance barks, “not that it was a good one.” He turns and bolts back the way he’d come, collapsing his bayard as he vaults over rubble. He ignores the techno zombies as much as he can, deflecting incoming fire with both shields. He doesn’t have time to engage.

“Can it be done,” he demands, short of breath. His legs burn as he hauls ass back toward the gun.

“_I- yes.” _ He can hear the zap of Pidge’s katar and a grunt of effort. “ _ But the gun is destroyed. It won’t fire.” _

“I don’t need the entire gun, just the targeting system.”

That’s when Pidge understands what he’s talking about. “_ I can help. _”

“No! You get those people out of here. I sent a small group of survivors back your way. Everyone else is gone.

“You’re the only one with a cloak and half a chance of getting out of here alive.” His voice turns somber. “I’ll buy you time.” Lance severs the connection before Pidge can argue, clamoring up the gun. The damn thing is a spitting mess of sparks and smoking rubble, blackened from the hit.

Lance’s broadsword appears in his hands and he yells with effort as he drives it into the console.

Using the sword he hacks the targeting system out of the machine. It clatters to the shattered stone platform, a loose mass of wires and a cracked screen.

“Blue! I need you!” Lance drags the laser up into his arms. He hears the ship’s cannon charging, his ears nearly splitting as the ship fires. A streak of blue and silver twists in the air just avoiding it.

Blue lands hard, nearly knocking Lance off balance with a roar, facing off against the alien ship.

Lance’s jets barely manage to get him up onto her muzzle, his magnetic boots locking him in place.

“Up!” he orders. He feels a flicker of doubt from her mind before she’s launching into the air. Lance hits his knees under the incredible force., barely hanging on.

Lance drags the laser into position, cradling it against his legs, aiming it at the ship. His teeth rattle as Blue avoids another blast. They've successfully attracted the attention of the machine.

Lance reconnects his com. “Pidge, get the _ fuck _ out of here!” He can barely hear the sound of his own voice over the roar of Blue’s engines and the wind buffeting him.

He primes the laser, a huge red marker appearing on the screen that slowly begins to focus.

“Allura! Can you see it?”

_ “We see it.” _Keith answers.

_ “It’s not enough!” _

“Damn it.” Lance nearly drops the laser as Blue rolls, avoiding another shot.

When she finally stabilizes Lance tries again. The little box on his screen slowly begins to focus. The ship’s own canon begins to charge, the red light beginning to glow. Lance can see it reflecting along the edges of Blue’s muzzle.

“Come on,” Lance mutters, “come on!” Blue holds steady in the air and Lance stabilizes himself on her nose. He wills the little box on his screen to narrow.

“_There!” _

Lance’s eyes widen as he hears the beam’s vibration in the air. He isn’t gonna make it.

“Now!” he screams, Keith’s voice cutting across his own at the same time.

“_Fire!” _

Lance sees a little blue dot in the atmosphere as the the castle fires. Blue launches herself out of the way a moment before the blast from the castle hits the machine. The impact knocks its own shot wide. They’re so close Lance feels one of his eardrums split. The heat from the laser burns even through his suit, ripping through the air with a scream.

“Pidge! Are you-”

“_I’m out, I’m out!” _

“_Again!” _Keith shouts, another blast coming from the castle followed by several more. Allura bombards the planet’s surface now that they have a lock.

Debris, boulders, and entire buildings are flung into the air. The cannon fire screams past them as the ship is obliterated. Allura doesn’t stop until there’s nothing but a massive crater in the ground.

Lance tosses the laser and it goes skittering off the edge of Blue’s nose. She takes off, sprinting away from the fight.

Blue soars high into the air away from the destruction and laser blasts. She's heading for the atmosphere as Lance releases his boots. Blue flicks him into the air, opening her mouth and Lance trusts she’ll catch him.

A moment later she does, her jaws snapping closed. He’s caught in a force field within her mouth, landing harmlessly.

She soars for the castle, destroying a number of smaller vessels along the way. Lance scrambles for her pilot's seat.

“I need a wormhole!” He throws himself into the chair, his ear throbbing. He straps in as a series of coordinates appear on his screen, Blue heading right for them.

Seconds later a wormhole appears and he’s hurtling through it in a mass of blue and white light.

The silence stretches forever, making Lance’s good ear ring. He flops back in the chair, his fingers numb from adrenaline. Sweat makes the inside of his suit slick and he can’t stop shaking. Pain burst along his waist where he’d been clawed open, blood staining his chair.

“You did good,” he murmurs to Blue, patting her console. His voice trembles, scratched raw from all the shouting. His teeth chatter.

She rumbles back to him, a low purr settling in Lance’s brain, soothing away the shock.

“_Lance? _”

“‘m here Keith.” A deep sigh leaves him. “I’m here.”

Lance hears what might be a strangled sob through his helmet but it’s hard to tell.

“Is everyone okay?”

“_We’re all fine, _ ” Allura answers, her voice distorted and strange coming from only one side. “ _ Pidge has arrived with the last of the survivors. _”

A bone deep exhaustion hits Lance and he can barely keep his eyes open. Tears collect on his lashes and he wants to cry.

“Good,” he murmurs, “that’s good.” He swallows thickly, tears leaving tracks through the grime on his face.

“_Are you okay?” _Keith asks softly and Lance is warmed by the worry in his voice.

“No,” he chokes. He grips the controls anyway and clears his throat. “I’m coming in.”

~

Lance slogs his way to the bridge, helmet in hand. He’s leaving a trail of blood drops in his wake. He tries to remember to clean them up later.

When the doors hiss open he sees Keith slumped over a console, his arms shaking. As he hears the doors, Keith raises his head and Lance sees the tear tracks there, matching his own.

Lance is barely standing. His whole body hurts, the wounds in his side gaping, a sob lodged in his throat.

A split second after their eyes meet Keith runs to meet him partway across the bridge. He hits him so hard Lance is nearly knocked off his feet. The impact knocks the wind out of him and he stumbles back, dropping his helmet to catch Keith around the waist.

Keith holds him tightly, sinking back on his heels as Lance finds his balance.

“You’re such an idiot,” he whispers, face tucked to Lance’s neck as close as he can get.

Lance’s mouth trembles and he sinks into the embrace, holding Keith in his arms. He needs the hug just as much.

He buries his face against Keith’s neck, breathing him in, fingers curling painfully against his back.

“I thought I wasn’t gonna see you again,” Keith says and Lance’s car hear the emotion in his voice, the way it wavers with fear.

“I’m sorry.” Lance’s voice is raw and his throat hurts. He leans far enough away to push Keith's hair back so he can see his face. “It was all I could think of.”

Keith makes a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob, dropping his head into Lance’s palm.

“Please don’t do it again,” he whispers and Lance thumbs away a tear. “We may not get so lucky next time.” He squeezes Lance, lacing their fingers together against his cheek.

“I care about you. I need you to come back.” His eyes are searching and Lance pulls him closer.

“I will,” he promises, tucking his face against Keith’s hair and running a hand over his back. “I never meant to leave you either.” He shivers, Blue’s purr no longer in his mind to chase away the shock. 

His knees start to shake and he cries, Keith finding the strength to hold him up. 

“Come on,” he says softly. “I got you.” He gently pulls one of Lance’s arms over his shoulders. Careful of the wound to his side he helps Lance to the medbay.


	24. Spin the Bottle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a drunken game of spin-the-bottle. What could go wrong? I don't know, maybe making out with your crush in a room full of people?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random spin-the-bottle one shot. 
> 
> Also, if you read The Storm, don't panic. I'm making it it's own one-shot. It's more cohesive than the rest of what's here so it's being upgraded from The Spice Cabinet.
> 
> Tags:  
Fluff  
minor flangst  
get together  
flirty Lance  
pining Keith

“The freak can go next.”

Keith scowls, trying to remember the name of the girl who’d spoken. She sneers at him and Keith rolls his eyes. He doesn’t know why he’s still here. He should have grabbed an Uber and gone somewhere else. Even if it is his house. 

He spins the stupid bottle, too drunk to wonder if it’s a good idea or not. It makes him dizzy as it spins, finally coming to a stop. 

Keith grinds his teeth, ready to get the whole thing over with. Except when he lifts his eyes it’s to see Lance sitting square in front of the bottle. 

A slow smile spreads across Lance’s mouth and Keith feels himself go red. All he can do is stare. Keith can see laughter in Lance’s eyes as the silence stretches and Keith doesn’t move. He’s frozen and there are snickers all around.

“Can I kiss you?” Lance asks, shaking Keith out of his stupor. 

Keith can’t breathe. His heart pounds in his chest and sweat breaks out across his skin. 

“Yes,” he whispers, the word breathy and weak and it sounds too much like  _ please. _

Lance grins, crawling across the space without taking his eyes off Keith to all but sit in his lap. 

Keith stares at him wide-eyed as Lance hovers above him. He’s fallen into the same trap as everyone else in school, like a moth to flame. Fallen for a set of broad shoulders and pretty eyes. 

Against his better judgement he wants Lance. Has since he first moved here with his brother. 

If the rumors are anything to go on, he’ll be just another conquest under Lance’s belt. But with him sitting right there in Keith’s lap, warm and willing and firm in all the right ways, Keith doesn’t care. 

When Lance’s hands skim up his chest Keith groans. He can’t help it. Those long brown fingers settle to either side of his throat against his racing pulse and Keith shivers. His eyes slip closed, the barest of pressure on the back of his head getting Keith to tip his chin up. It’s been a long time since anyone touched him like this.

He can smell Lance, all warm cologne and skin and boy. There’s nothing Keith can do but whimper in the moment before Lance kisses him, feels him hovering a breath away, staring. 

Keith knows what he looks like, debauched and needy and Lance has barely touched him. His breath hitches and then Lance’s lips are against his. 

They’re plush and soft, molding perfectly to Keith’s, coaxing another sound out of him like he can taste it on his tongue. 

Keith forgets they’re not alone, that he and Lance aren’t dating, that they run in different circles, that they barely know each other. It doesn’t stop him from pressing into the kiss, into Lance, fingers curling in his stupid white shirt that’s half transparent agaisnt his skin, dragging him closer. 

Lance’s thighs flex around Keith’s hips, letting him pull him until their chests are touching. 

Lance’s fingers curl in Keith’s hair, holding on tight as he deepens the kiss, tongue slipping into Keith’s mouth. 

Keith’s arms slip around Lance’s waist, nails dragging over his back as he crushes Lance to him. 

The hollers and wolf whistles filter back into Keith’s ears and he pulls away, Lance’s grip in his hair keeping his head craned back, unable to look away. 

He sees the way Lance’s tongue touches his lip, like he’s savoring the taste of Keith, sees how long it takes Lance to open his eyes. Sees how dark they are when he finally does. 

Keith’s hands on his waist tremble. If the entire school didn’t know he was gay before, they do now. Everyone in a ten foot radius has got their phones out, snapping pictures or taking video. 

Lance doesn’t let him go and Keith feels his face burn. 

“You’re something Kogane,” Lance whispers, voice low and intimate and only for him.

His fingers finally ease in Keith’s hair, letting him go. 

Keith swallows thickly, unable to look away. 

“I- I have to go.” 

A smile flickers over Lance’s lips and Keith’s eyes are drawn back to them, hungry for more. 

“It’s your house,” Lance reminds him, that same smile in his voice and Keith wants to taste it. 

Lance’s fingers slide to Keith’s burning cheeks, his eyes taking in Keith’s features like he’s trying to memorize him. 

“Think I like you right where you are.” His weight settles back into Keith’s lap, perfectly content to sit on him.

The game goes on behind them, the crowd growing bored. 

“Been staring at you since you moved here,” Lance admits, fingers tugging on Keith’s collar. His expression turns coy. “Think you’ve been staring too.” 

Keith ducks his head, mortified. “Sorry.” 

“Don’t be,” Lance murmurs, stroking a finger under his chin. Keith peeks up at him from under his bangs. “I like having your eyes on me.” 

Keith lifts his head when Lance applies pressure, letting Lance push his hair away. If Lance asked him to jump off a bridge Keith thinks he would. He’s so far gone on him. 

With Lance’s invitation to stare, Keith does. He stares like he’s lost, floating in space, devoid of heat and light and air. And Lance is all that’s keeping him alive. Like he’s moments away from suffocating, vision blacking out and the sight of Lance is a breath of desperately needed air.

Keith looks at Lance like he’s saved him. 

Lance’s lips part in wonder as Keith stares at him, his own cheeks warming under the attention. He doesn’t know what Keith is thinking to put that look on his face. No one’s ever looked at him like that.

“You gonna break my heart?” Keith whispers. His breath shallows, heart kicking in fear. 

Lance’s fingers rest against Keith’s cheek as he searches his eyes. 

“God, I hope not,” he breathes. 

Lance’s fingers stroke over Keith’s face, catching along his lips. Keith’s eyes flutter shut against his will, lost to the touch. He’s utterly helpless. 

“Don’t want to be another conquest,” Keith whispers. 

Lance presses into him, their foreheads resting together. 

“You’re not,” Lance promises. 

Keith pulls away, opening his eyes. “You say that to all the others too?” 

Lance sulks in Keith’s lap. “Look, I know I have a reputation. Like all the other rumors, some of it is based on fact. Yes, I have had multiple partners, yes I broke some of their hearts and they broke mine when things fell apart or turned toxic. I don’t need that shit in my life.” He looks sad enough Keith touches the corner of his mouth trying to bring his smile back. 

“I don’t know what it is about you,” Lance admits. “But I can’t...stop thinking about you. You’ve got this-” He gestures with a hand. “Magnetism about you.” He cups the side of Keith’s face. “I want to know more. I want to  _ be  _ more. If you’ll let me.” 

Keith smiles and Lance loses his breath. 

“I would like that.” 

Lance is giddy and his smile comes back full force. It makes Keith’s heart skip in his chest.

“Does that mean I can kiss you again?” Lance asks. He’s practically vibrating with excitement, anticipation. Keith’s tongue flicks out to wet his lips at the thought. His fingers flex on Lance’s waist. 

“ _ Please _ .”


	25. Sometimes you Just Gotta Fuck a Moth Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That's it, that's the fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what the fuck this is.  
Cryptid Lance very vaguely taken from Twitter by xxxlucrezia. Design inspired by baby moth Keith with many liberties taken. 
> 
> Tags:  
Cryptid Lance  
Sex Pollen (Vaguely)  
Smut  
Frottage

Lance is releasing pheromones into the air and it’s driving Keith insane. He’s achingly hard in his jeans, dizzy with lust. Lance chitters as Keith sucks an angry bruise into the dark skin of his throat. His long claws run through Keith’s hair, skipping and twitching against his scalp. 

Losing all sense of himself except for what he wants, Keith yanks Lance onto his stomach. Lance’s wing shifts to keep from hitting him until Keith is pressed all along his back, teeth sinking into the nape of Lance’s neck. Lance lets out a series of happy little mewls and clicks, one hand curling into the sheets as Keith ruts against him. He closes his eyes and coos. 

It sounds like praise and Keith groans, grinding down against Lance’s ass. 

Lance keeps his wings held high and away as Keith grapples him, nails raking over his back when they slip from Lance’s bare shoulder. 

Lance lets out a broken noise, hips lifting to meet Keith’s as he spreads his knees. Keith is draped over his back, dry fucking Lance until he cums, shaking and shivering. 

Lance lowers his hips to the bed, carrying Keith’s dead weight with him. He makes soft little noises, pleased. Keith kisses over the vibrant blue and purple bruises he’s left behind, the scratches. They’re lifting to lighter colors against the night black of Lance’s skin, like stars against the sky. He presses kisses to the scattering of freckle-like marks adorning his shoulders, fingers stroking over the velvety down patches of Lance’s body. It’s softer than anything Keith has ever felt and Lance purrs as Keith touches him. 

He finally slips to the side, Lance lifting away one giant wing and rolling over. Keith can see the tapered head of Lance’s cock peeking out from his sheath and his mouth waters. 

Lance catches him staring and tips his head, making an inquiring little noise. 

Keith flushes and looks away, suddenly embarrassed and uncomfortable. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-“ He swallows thickly, clearing his throat. “I shouldn’t have done that.” 

Lance makes a distressed little noise, leaning into Keith’s space, nosing along his throat. His tongue flicks out in encouraging little licks and he takes Keith’s hand. He presses Keith’s calloused palm over his growing erection and Keith sees it when his wings shudder. The shiver works through his body all the way to where his face is still pressed against Keith’s throat, hips rocking against Keith’s hand. 

Keith repeats the motion, pressing down, adding friction as Lance grinds against him. He smirks as Lance scoots closer, cock fully unfurled into Keith’s palm. 

His arms slip around Keith, holding him as Keith begins to pump his hand. His palm is slick with fluid, catching between his fingers as Keith squeezes around the head, making Lance arch into him with a cry. 

Keith adjusts the angle, wanting to see. He can feel the ridged segments of Lance’s cock but is still startled by the vibrant blue and silver grey color. It’s almost translucent in places and Keith slows his pace, watching the flesh stretch and move as he does. 

Lance whines, claws dragging over Keith’s shirt, tearing holes. 

Keith lifts his head, one hand in Lance’s hair. 

“Okay,” he says softly. “Okay. Can you lay down for me?” 

Lance makes a frustrated noise, snapping his teeth and lifts his hips. 

Keith laughs, kissing his cheek. “I know. Just lay down.” 

Lance huffs and glares at Keith but does it anyway. His wings are spread carefully across the bed, leaving little trails of dust in their wake. Keith maneuvers so he’s lying between Lance’s knees.

He takes Lance’s cock with one hand, stroking him as he leans down to taste him. 

Lance hisses in warning before he can, a low growl in his throat. 

“I’m not trying to hurt you,” Keith says softly. He takes one of Lance’s hands, guiding it into his hair, curling Lance’s fingers. 

“You can pull me off if you don’t like it okay?”

Lance relaxes a little and Keith ducks his head again, eager to take him into his mouth. Lance yanks on his hair hard enough to bring tears to Keith’s eyes and he winces, head craned back with a painful little yelp.

Lance stares at him intently as if to make sure Keith meant what he said. He wipes away a bead of water as it slips free from Keith’s eyes and gentles his grip. He chirps, cooing in apology before drawing Keith gently back down. 

Keith is more than a little put off by the pain but not enough to keep him from finishing what he started. He flicks his tongue out into Lance’s slit beneath his cock, a startled cry leaving Lance at the sensation. 

Keith’s head snaps up. He’s never heard Lance make that sound before. “Are you alright?” He tries to sit up but Lance tightens his grip in Keith’s hair to keep him there. Keith grins, hand pumping slowly. 

“Oh, we liked that did we?” 

Lance huffs as he blushes, the little flecks on his cheeks lighting up. Keith leans down and does it again, fluid covering his fingers. 

He kisses along Lance’s head, the shaft to the root, the flat of his tongue pressed against the base where it meets the seam of his body. Lance shudders, a trill rippling through him. His wings vibrate against the bed hard enough Keith can feel it. 

Keith works his way back up to the tip of Lance’s cock, slowly taking Lance into his mouth a little at a time. He dips a little lower with each bob of his head until Lance is hitting the back of his throat. 

The third time it happens Keith swallows, pressing down until he’s flush with Lance’s abdomen. 

Lance writhes beneath him as Keith sucks on him. He pulls off to catch a breath, hand moving rapidly before he’s diving down again. He takes Lance to the back of his throat again and again, twisting his wrist and squeezing around Lance’s head when he has to pull off. 

When Lance cums it's with a shriek, a streak of white hitting Keith across the face. Both his hands tangle in Keith’s hair as Lance arches his back, mouth open, dark jagged teeth fully on display. 

Keith continues pumping his hand as another spurt of cum paints the side of his cheek, getting in his hair. It slides over his fingers as Lance finishes and Keith slowly loosens his hold.

He slicks his tongue over Lance’s cock one last time before it begins to recede. 

At the last moment he presses his mouth over the vanishing head, tongue pressing into the slit and slick heat. 

Lance whines and shivers and Keith does it twice more before pulling away, fluid and cum and saliva coating his mouth. He grabs a handful of the ruined sheet, wiping the mess away.

When he sits up Lance looks at him through bleary eyes, dragging his claws through the mess of Keith’s hair where it’s sticking to his cheek. There’s a deep thrum in the back of his throat and Keith lets Lance roll him, nuzzling up under his throat to scent him. 

Keith tips his head up and smiles, one hand coming up between Lance’s wings to the scent gland there. He strokes it a few times before bringing his hand back around, sliding it over his own throat. 

Lance sniffs over him, taking Keith’s hand, warm little puffs of air hitting his palm as he smells himself on Keith’s skin. He makes a small trill, using Keith’s hand as a prop to stroke down Keith’s abdomen. 

He crawls down Keith’s body, still sniffing. Keith’s hand is still caught in Lance's and he shivers as Lance works his way to Keith’s jeans. He makes a displeased little sound at the smell and makes little scratches over the fabric with his other hand. 

He bites at the edge of them with his sharp teeth and Keith flinches. 

“O-kay, okay I get it. You want them off.” He unbuttons his jeans with his free hand and Lance sniffs all along the fresh expanse of skin, smelling Keith’s orgasm. 

He presses Keith’s scented palm into his pelvis before rubbing his cheek over the sensitive skin. The velvet of his scent glands makes Keith shiver, his cock giving an interested twitch.

Deeming the scent too weak Lance yanks on Keith’s hand, laying down across his legs so Keith can reach the same spot between his wings, pressing his whole palm there. 

When he pulls it back Lance takes it again, using it like a brush to paint over Keith’s own hips, dousing him in Lance’s own scent. 

He rubs his cheek over Keith’s stomach, pulling at the material of his jeans and boxers, yanking them down. Keith hisses at the sticky mess, gasping as Lance buries his nose in the dark curls, breathing deep. He groans, still sensitive and over-stimulated. 

Lance takes Keith’s hand, running Keith’s fingers over himself, pressing his palm flat to his own softened cock. Keith hisses at the friction, twitching as Lance does it again, harder this time. Keith bites back a whine as he works his fingers over himself, down into the dark curls and back again until Lance is satisfied and he’s panting and half hard again. 

Lance sniffs down Keith’s bare thigh, rubbing his cheek there and Keith follows the motion with his hand. Lance nips at the muscle playfully before chittering in apparent approval and flopping across Keith’s chest, driving the breath out of him. He purrs contentedly and Keith runs a hand through his hair. 

“Cuddle time it is then.” 


	26. My Heart is Yours- Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is struck during a firefight, knocking him and Blue both into a wormhole. She crash lands on a strange planet, core all but dead and Lance isolated and alone. The only thing he has left to survive is a new suit of armor powered by what's left of Blue's own heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags:  
Mutual Pining  
Pining Lance  
Pining Keith  
Direct Lance  
Isolation  
Get Together  
First Time  
Rough Sex  
Hurt/Comfort  
Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Lance has been on the planet for what he thinks is close to six months, maybe longer. It’s hard to tell. He knows the night and day cycles are different from Earth’s and he’s been counting times by that. 

Blue had been knocked through a wormhole during a battle with Voltron. She’d also been blasted with some kind of alien technology. 

Most aliens they’ve come into contact with haven’t been hostile but the minute they entered that sector of space they’d been attacked. All efforts to communicate had been ignored. 

The castle had effectively been booted like a car, leaving it dead in space. 

Lance has been knocked into the wormhole before the end of the battle. He doesn’t even know if his friends are alive. 

Blue had been knocked unconscious. Or at least the equivalent. She’d had a hole blown into her side, Lance’s helmet snapping shut as the atmosphere was sucked into space. 

With no controls she’d been pulled into the gravity of the nearest planet once they’d exited the wormhole. The crash had been bad. She’d bounced through a number of floating pillars. Like someone had cut the surface of the planet up and sent it floating into the air.

She’d crashed through a layer of heavy jungle growth before coming to a stop.

An umbilical cord of roots and vines connected the piece they’d landed on to the surface of the planet a hundred feet below. 

No one had come to investigate the crash and Lance assumed the planet was abandoned by civilization. 

And then he’d been ambushed. The locals were some kind of hip high combination of insect and frog. Lance had managed to escape or scare off most of them. 

They hadn’t come back. 

When he returned to Blue, climbing through the gaping hole in her side, it was to find her dark and silent. Her core still throbbed, a deep fracture through the heart crystal. 

She sent a thread of awareness into Lance’s mind and he’d sagged with relief. At least she was still alive. 

~

He’d started out exploring, venturing a little further away from Blue every day. There’s a spring nearby that Lance is grateful for, his armor letting him know it’s relatively safe to drink. He sets up a filter anyway before drinking it. There isn’t much to eat but Lance makes do with what he has. There are rations stored inside Blue that should last him at least a week. 

During one of his longer exploratory endeavors he’s forced to camp away from Blue for the night. Nothing seems to live on the platform aside from them which is both a relief and a source of discomfort. They’re so high in the air Lance knows he can’t reach the surface of the planet. And if he did, he’d never be able to get back to Blue. 

It’s a problem Blue herself seems well aware of because when he comes back, her interior has changed. He'd left his armor behind due to the heat and after some prodding from Blue.

Her cabin has shifted to accomodate a new raised dais, his armor mounted on top of it. At least Lance thinks it’s his armor. The colors are still white and blue and silver but it’s massive, almost three times as big as it was before. It looks like a battle mech more than a suit of armor and he raps on it sharply with a knuckle.

The armor doesn't respond. He circles the platform, studying it. 

His bayard pulses as he comes around to the back, seeing a similar anchor point like what he uses to bring up her larger weapons. 

“Alright, here goes nothing.” He takes up the bayrad, slotting it into place and giving it a hard twist to the right. The armor whirs to life. 

The bayard is absorbed into the armor, a series of tiny honeycomb shaped plates all down the right arm rising and falling, energy crackling over them. 

“Woah…” Cold radiates from the plates, frost building on the surface of the material. The back of the suit ripples before peeling open from the back of the helmet all the way to the back of the legs creating a space large enough for him to step inside. 

“Here goes nothing,” he murmurs and steps inside.

~

He adapts to the new armor quickly, learning and testing it’s limits. It’s much better than his previous armor but at a price he is less than willing to pay. 

It’s powered by Blue’s own core. There’s not enough power left for her to breach the atmosphere. At least Lance doesn’t think so. And even if he did, where would he go? He has no way of contacting Voltron or knowing where he is. He’s not willing to risk being adrift in space when he’s relatively safe here. Maybe he can find some way to repair the damage or build a transmitter to contact his team. Or wait for them to find him. 

After the first week his hope begins to fade. It becomes less about holding out for Voltron and more about finding a way to survive. The planet is mostly devoid of life. There are a number of old ruins and Lance is reminded of a summer trip he took to Belize. There’s nothing but jungle for miles once he’s able to reach the surface thanks to the suit. 

He loses track of time, stops bothering until he realizes the suit is doing it for him, counting out the days in Altean time. The overlap between it and the planet’s day/night cycle is disorienting and he stops trying. It’s depressing him anyway. He removes it from his screen.

On his second week of being stranded he sees ships in the atmosphere and runs for the location, hope soaring in his heart. Instead of rescue he finds the Galra and a small civilization. They’re humanoid and fierce, fighting back from whatever it is the Galra want from them. Lance suspects it’s mining giving the technology they’ve managed to set up. 

As Lance’s hope dies, rage overtakes him. His friends could be dead. If he can get one of their ships...he’d have to leave Blue behind. Guilt settles thick in his mouth. He can’t leave her. Not even to find help. So he doesn’t. 

The civilization is nowhere near as advanced as the Galra. 

He slaughters the soldiers before they take off, back to the base ship they’d come from. The civilians are visibly grateful for Lance’s help but terrified of him. He's a storm of blood and violence, ice and lightning. They gape and cower like he's a god or a demon.

Disappointment burns in Lance’s heart and he backs away, marking the location on his map and heads back for Blue. Maybe it had been a mistake. Within days more, Galra swarm the planet. 

Lance becomes something of a myth. He patrols and defends the small camps he can find, ambushing the Galra and protecting who he can. He doesn’t engage with the civilians outside of combat, scavenging from destroyed Galran ships, trying to build a transmitter to try and contact the Castle of Lions. He isn't willing to risk any more of Blue's depleted power trying. 

He never manages to make contact, but rumors begin to spread of the strange mech that appeared overnight, like a vengeful spirit to protect the civilians. Eventually...those rumors reach the Blades. 


	27. My Heart is Yours- Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone finally comes looking for Lance

Lance is on his way back from a patrol. He hadn’t found or made contact with anymore Galra. He’s tired and hungry and very much ready for a nap. 

The proximity scanner inside his helmet pings and Lance tracks the little marker. The filters show him it’s vaguely humanoid, two arms and legs that he can see, taller than the locals he's encountered. Listening, whoever they are moves silently through the underbrush. 

Lance’s shoulders tense but he’s drained and not in the mood to pick a fight. Whoever they are, they don’t strike and Lance takes the roundabout way back to Blue. He doesn’t want to lead whoever this is right to her. 

He doesn’t know if they’re a Galra or a local and switches filters. The cold spots tell him whoever it is, they’re wearing armor. 

Galra then. 

He watches as the figure branches off to one side, paralleling him, his screens tracking the movement. There’s a narrow path up ahead, the rock several feet high to either side creating a passage. 

It’s covered with dense foliage and Lance is aware it’s the perfect place to stage an ambush. The figure seems to think so as well. 

Whoever they are they’re fast. They dart ahead, taking up a position along the rise, crouched low and waiting. 

Lance doesn’t react until he’s a few paces away. And then he’s charging his bayard. The arm begins to glow from his shoulder to his hand, energy cracking over the surface. The honeycomb plates rise and fall, sending little arcs of power into the air.

He aims it straight into the dense underbrush where the figure is hiding. He can see the sword in their hand.

“_Not smart,_” he growls, voice distorted and warbling through the helmet. The tip of his bayard glows bright blue, the energy collecting, waiting to be unleashes.

Lance sees the hand twitch on the sword and his bayard whines in warning, energy arching down his arm in a lethal charge. All it takes is one thought to fire it. Or direct contact. 

“_Try it and you’ll be dead before your next breath.” _ Lance isn’t kidding. Even if he somehow manages to miss, the minute the soldier makes contact, they’re dead, the charge stopping their heart. Even the Galra don’t have the kind of tech to protect from that. They'd learned that the hard way.

The figure is left staring at the machine, something about it familiar in a way he can’t quite place, the voice scratching at something in the back of his mind, even distorted. 

Lance flips through the various filters. His standard view comes back into focus and Lance slowly lowers his bayard.

“_You’re a Blade_.” His posture lifts from the half crouch he’d been in, easing at something he recognizes. 

“_Who are you?” _ they ask, staring at the machine that may be more than that. There’s something so familiar...they hardly dare to hope... and then the mech is lowering the weapon, the energy along their arm dissipating. 

It’s not just any Blade. Lance knows that silhouette. He knows he does. His heart lodges in his throat. 

“_Keith _?” Lance’s voice wavers as he reaches out, armored fingers touching the heavy mask. He feels like he's dreaming. 

The figure lifts a shaking hand, tapping at their collar and collapsing the helmet, dark hair spilling free. Lance tips the hood back to better see him. His heart threatens to give out as a familiar pair of violet eyes stare up at him, searching the strange planes of his helmet. 

“Lance?”

Lance chokes at the sound of his own name in a voice he never thought he’d hear again. He drops his arm, the weapon on his arm falling dead. His hands flutter in the air between them, strangely vulnerable in spite of the layers of armor and material he’s buried under. Keith’s hand comes up to touch his and his brows furrow, lips parting in confusion. 

“Lance?” he asks again, voice strained with disbelief. 

“_Yeah,” _ he chokes. “_Yeah it’s me._” He presses his hand more firmly against Keith’s cheek, pushing his hair back from his face. “_How are you…?” _ Lance looks around the jungle, searching for answers. “_How did you find me? How are you here?” _He sounds dazed and Keith hates that he can’t see him. 

“_Am I dreaming?” _

Keith wonders the same thing. He’s had so many of these dreams before and woken up disappointed every time. He’s afraid he’s going to wake up any moment unless he can prove to himself this is really Lance, until he can _ see _him.

He doesn’t let go of Lance’s hand, using it for leverage as he stands. His fingers search the planes of an unfamiliar helmet, unable to catch so much as a glimpse of Lance behind it.

“How do I-?” He’s searching for seals, a way to remove the helmet but Lance catches his hand, shaking his head. 

“_You can’t. It doesn’t work like that. _ ” He swallows, clearing his throat of the emotion stuck there. “_Not here. Later. _” It doesn’t stop him from letting his hands settle on Keith’s hips and Keith realizes just how much bigger Lance is with the armor. The stilts have them standing at eye level even though Keith is on a rise, Lance standing on a loose gravelled path below him. 

His hands take up the entire space from Keith’s hips to his ribs and fully encircling his waist.

Keith gives up on trying to remove the helmet for the moment and steps into Lance’s chest. Stretching up onto his toes he wraps his arms around Lance's bulky shoulders. Lance’s arms circle his waist entirely, holding him tight.

_ “I really wish I could feel this,” _ Lance says and his voice sounds choked. He gives Keith a painful squeeze, struggling to control his strength. 

“_Come on. We need to get somewhere safe.” _Keith pulls back, his hands resting on Lance’s arms. 

“Any ideas?”

He can practically feel Lance smile and it sends a thrill through him. It’s been a long time since he’s felt that, longer still since he’s seen it. 

“_Do you trust me?” _

“Yes.” Keith answers without doubt, without question. 

Lance’s hands tighten around his waist. “_Then hold on. And watch your hands.” _The engines flare and Lance pulls Keith against his chest, lifting into the air. Keith holds on as they weave through the trees, the wind tousling his hair and making his eyes water. He wonders how fast they’re going. 

Lance cradles him with one arm, landing periodically, the jets giving him little bursts of speed between leaps. 

At the speed they’re traveling they reach their destination in a matter of minutes. 

Lance finally stops at the base of one of the floating platforms that cover the entire planet.

Lance bounces on the stilts for a moment, the engines cooling before he jumps. The jets kick in hard, launching them upwards the hundred feet or so into the air. Lance uses his free hand to grapple for the edge as it comes into reach. He pulls them both up onto the lip before the engine overheats, sprinting forward again.

He doesn’t slow until they reach a large mound of tangled vines and it takes Keith a moment to recognize the shape as Blue. He hadn’t felt her presence at all and worry settles in his chest. 

Lance takes a final leap, the jets slowing his descent. He drops between a tangle of vines into shadow below, expertly locking the stilts of the suit into place on the platform Blue had made for it.

He sets Keith gingerly on his feet, and Keith watches as the back of the suit folds open all down Lance's spine, his arms, and the back of his legs. The helmet opens from the back and then Lance is stepping out, his toes finding the little edges halfway down the calves of the armor to climb out. Keith can’t breathe as Lance turns to face him. He looks exactly the same. 

It’s like looking at a memory and the hole in his chest hits him hard and heavy, reminding him of the void Lance had left behind when he’d vanished. 

“I thought- I thought you were dead.” He distantly realizes he’s staring but he can’t stop. “We all did.” 

Lance stands in front of him, stepping into the mottled light coming from the hatch overhead and Keith can’t _ breathe. _ He lunges forward, pulling Lance into another hug as a knot settles in his throat and he chokes on it. 

“I can’t-” He scrabbles for the button on his collar to retract his armor. “I can’t _ feel _ you,” he gasps, finally hitting the button and the barrier between them vanishes. He crushes Lance to his chest, realizing Lance is holding onto him just as tightly. His nails are digging into Keith’s skin through the material of his undersuit as he struggles to pull himself together. The harder he tries the more he falls apart until he’s shaking and crying in Lance’s arms, hardly daring to believe this is real.

He pulls back, tearing the gloves from his hands to press his fingers into Lance’s skin, trying to force himself to believe this is real, that he isn’t dreaming. 

He’s dreamed of finding Lance a thousand times over the months but now that it’s happened he can hardly believe it.

“You’re _ alive_.” He cups Lance’s face in both hands. “God, please, say something, I feel like I’m going insane.” 

“Think I’m in shock,” Lance whispers and Keith realizes his eyes are hazy. “Afraid I’m dreaming again.” His hands are on Keith’s waist and he leans into the heat of him. “Don’t want to wake up,” he rasps. Keith can feel him trembling. 

“You’re not dreaming,” he whispers. “God I hope you’re not dreaming,” he chokes, curling a hand around the back of Lance’s head. “Because if you’re dreaming, I am too.” He’s half blind with tears, fingers fumbling over Lance’s skin. “I fucking found you.” He can barely get the words out, can barely think, doesn’t stop to before pulling Lance’s mouth to his, kissing him fiercely, trying to prove he’s awake. Or if he is dreaming it may as well be a good one. 

He peppers Lance’s face with kisses, the corner of his mouth, his lips, his cheeks, before hugging him again. Lance is shuddering against him and slowly he begins to cry.

“I want to go home.” His voice quavers and breaks and Keith holds him all the tighter. “Please, take me home.” He cries into Keith’s shoulder and Keith presses a hand to the back of his head again, running his fingers over the jagged, close cropped hair there.

“Soon,” he promises, kissing Lance’s ear. “I promise Lance, soon.”


	28. My Heart is Yours- Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Porn. It's just porn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is absurdly self indulgent.

"What is that?” Keith nibbles on a bit of dried fruit Lance has stored in Blue, staring at the suit in the middle of the space. He’s been wondering about it since he first saw it. It’s hard to tell what’s inflated rumor and what’s true. He’d heard it could call down thunderstorms and blizzards, wield lightning like a sword. He’s seen nothing to validate any of those rumors.

Lance chews thoughtfully, staring at the armor. “I don’t know. Not really. I just left one day to explore the area shortly after we’d crashed and Blue asked me to leave my armor behind in the storage locker. 

“When I came back...that was waiting for me.” He points at it with his chin. “She’d rearranged and reshaped the entire cabin into this.” He gestures around the space. He chews on his lip, worrying something over. 

“I don’t think Blue can connect to the other lions like this to form Voltron, even if we manage to get her out of here. This space is supposed to be so she can collapse in on herself.” He shakes his head. “She can’t do that with it like this.” His voice low as if to keep Blue from hearing. “She’s dying.” 

Restless, he gets up and goes over to the armor, depressing a series of panels. They slide open to reveal a bright blue light. It fills the space with a low, pulsing thrum, like a heartbeat. 

“Is that…” Keith stares curiously, wiping his hands before coming to stand next to Lance. 

“Is that her core?” 

Lance nods. “Or what’s left of it.” His fingers flex at his sides. “She gave me what was left of her heart.” He chokes on the words. “To keep me safe.”

He looks at Keith and Keith can see the tears in his eyes. “I didn’t think the lions could die. But we took a hell of a hit. She’s a tangled mess.” His eyes grow damp and Keith can feel Lance’s fear in his own heart. 

“She’s not even upright. The hole-” He gestures to the space in the vines they’d descended through. “That’s where we got hit. I don’t know what the technology was but it gutted her. Vented the entire cabin.”

Keith didn’t know that. With all the growth it’s hard to see the real shape of her. And the inside has been rearranged to the point of unfamiliarity. 

He touches Lance’s shoulder. “We'll get her home,” he promises. “Same as you.”

Lance sniffles and looks away. “How? She can’t even fly.” 

Keith touches his cheek, coaxing Lance’s head back around. 

“If we have to I’ll leave and go find Voltron. We know where you are now. You can come with me-”

“No.” Lance’s eyes harden and he steps away like he’s afraid Keith will drag him out kicking and screaming. “I’m not leaving without her.”

“Lance-”

“No,” he snaps. “We’re both going or I’m not.” There’s a brokenness in Lance’s eyes, one Keith hasn’t seen before. “She’s been alone for so long already. I won’t let her be lonely anymore.” His lips tremble. “She’s all I’ve got.” Keith’s heart sinks. He hopes Lance has had more than Blue for company the past six months while he’s been missing. It’s a shallow hope. Everything he’s seen indicates Lance has been living alone and if any of the rumors can be believed he hadn’t interacted much with the locals outside of defending them. Keith knows what that kind of isolation can do. 

He nods slowly. “Alright. Then I’m staying too.”

Lance’s eyebrows furrow. “But what about the Blades? Your mission.”

“You were always my mission,” he says firmly. His eyes flick between Lance’s. “Finding you...that’s all that matters. I’m not letting you go again.” A small smile curls in the corner of Lance’s mouth and Keith feels his stomach flip. He’d missed that smile. 

His eyes linger on Lance’s mouth, the desire to kiss him again is overwhelming and he drops his head in shame. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Lance frowns, not understanding the sudden shift. “For what?”

Keith scratches at the back of his neck and won’t look at him. “For earlier,” he mumbles. “When I-” He trips over the words and bites the inside of his cheek, looking at Lance from under his brows. He takes a deep breath, steadying himself. “For kissing you without asking. I shouldn’t have-”

Lance steals the rest of the apology from Keith’s mouth, the words falling apart as Keith’s brain fuzzes. 

It’s not a quick kiss. Lance’s lips linger, sucking on the slick inside of Keith’s lip, first the bottom, a slow drag, then the top before pulling away. 

It takes Keith a moment to open his eyes and when he does they’re wet. Want spirals in his stomach, a static kind of energy building under his skin. It’s begging him to reach for Lance, to pull him in and never let him go. 

“Now we’re even,” Lance whispers. Keith’s hands have settled on Lance’s arms where they’re resting around his waist. He can’t keep them from trembling.

“Kiss me again,” he breathes and Lance does. He kisses Keith until Lance grows weak at the touch, a burning need inside him. It leaves him feeling broken and hollow, burned out and ruined. He wants touch. Didn’t know just how much until this exact moment and now he’s painfully turned on. 

“Keith,” he whines, fingers dragging over his shoulders. The suits are separating them and Lance can’t stand it. He wants to _ touch _ him. 

“Please,” he whispers. “Get it off.” His face screws up as he grips Keith’s shoulders, trying to stand. He’s shivering with need, his skin covered in the same static as Keith’s. 

Keith drops another kiss to his parted mouth. 

“Okay.” He reaches behind Lance, pulling at the zipper of his undersuit. He peels it back, stripping Lance to the waist and Lance gasps like he can finally _ breathe _ as it comes away. 

Keith chases over the sensitive skin with his mouth, laving attention all along Lance’s throat, his collarbones, his chest. 

His fingers press firmly into Lance’s back, dragging over more bone than muscle and he hates it. 

Lance is on his tiptoes, pressing into Keith like he needs more, fingers curled tight over his shoulders, trying to pull him closer. 

“Harder,” he gasps. “Please.”

Keith pulls back and Lance wants to cry, tears of frustration in his eyes. He’s not above begging. 

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Keith says softly. 

Lance looks so fragile from his time here. Keith is afraid of hurting him more than he can heal. 

Lance cradles his face in his hands, tears wetting his lashes. “I need to wake up and know you were really here,” he chokes. “Keith, I _ need _it to hurt.” He searches violet eyes he’d dreamed of so many times. “Please.”

Keith’s hands stroke over Lance’s waist. He can’t say he’s fond of the idea but this isn’t about what he wants right now. 

“Okay.”

He strips Lance until he’s stepping out of the suit and starts over. The love and affection in his kisses are still there, but now they’re bruising. His teeth scrape over tender skin and Lance whines, arching into every touch. 

Keith savors every sound, dragging his nails over Lance’s back hard enough to leave red streaks behind. Lance keens, his body arching. The harder Keith touches him the louder Lance gets. 

Keith pushes him back towards the cot, shoving him down. He stays standing long enough to remove the collar of his Blade uniform, discarding the armor entirely. It leaves him standing in the fitted undersuit, Lance already pawing at him to bring him back. He’s been gone too long, too far away and Lance wants him back. 

“How far are we…” Keith flushes, catching Lance’s hand, slowing their momentum. He sinks to the edge of the cot, placing his free hand on Lance’s chest, stroking idle patterns over his skin, trying to soothe him. 

Lance writhes on the bed. “I don’t care. Just don’t- stop touching me,” he begs.

Determination settles between Keith’s bones and he knows exactly what he’s going to do for the next few hours. 

“I know you want it to hurt Lance,” he says softly. “But I’m not fucking you without lube.” He leans down to kiss his mouth, stroking one calloused palm over Lance’s nipple. 

Lace shudders, his mouth falling open with a whine. 

“...the wall,” he gasps, Keith catching the words and Lance’s breath in his mouth. He pinches Lance’s nipple, rolling it between his finger and thumb. 

“The panel,” Lance manages, throwing one arm out in a random direction. 

Keith blinks at him in surprise, sitting back. “You actually keep lube in here?” 

Lance flushes, his eyes hazy but beginning to focus. 

“Where else am I supposed to go without worrying about someone walking in on me or knocking on the door?”

Keith walks to the panel, pressing it open. Inside he finds lube but no condoms. 

“There’s no…” He trails off awkwardly, staring into the small space to avoid looking at Lance. 

“Never needed them.” Lance tugs on his cock with a whine, needing stimulation. He’s so close to cumming already. 

“But what about…?” Keith looks around at Blue’s cabin, lowering his voice. “What if she’s watching?”

Lance’s head lolls to the side with a smile. “I’m a voyeur Keith. If she _ is _ watching it kind of works for me.”

Keith blushes, taking the small bottle back to the bed. “Oh.” 

“Didn’t know that, did you?” Lance wiggles his eyebrows and a pressure in Keith’s chest eases at the playful banter, at the thin sliver of the Lance he used to know. 

“No.” He leans over Lance, kissing along his jaw. “But I would like to.” His nose skims up over Lance’s cheek to whisper in his ear. “I like knowing what turns you on.” 

Lance’s cock twitches and he groans, Keith stroking a hand over his heaving chest. 

His hand trails down Lance’s body, over his stomach to his thigh and Lance trembles with anticipation. 

Keith kisses the corner of Lance’s mouth. “Does this- mean anything?” He shouldn’t ask. He doesn’t want to ruin whatever is happening right now if Lance shuts him down. He’ll do it anyway, but he can’t help wanting more. 

“What do you mean?” Lance asks, his fingers toying with the ends of Keith’s hair. 

Keith sits back, staring down at Lance. 

“If this is just something you need and it just happened to be me, that’s okay.” He searches Lance’s eyes, voice lowering. “But I don’t want a friends with benefits kind of thing after this.” His breath hitches. “I didn’t want one before.” His expression turns pained and his voice drops to a whisper. “Didn’t know I loved you until I lost you.”

Lance touches his cheek, staring up at him. “If this is what living without you would be like,” he says, the words thick in his mouth. “Then I don’t want it.” He doesn’t say it, not exactly, but it’s close enough. “I want you to always be there, Keith. In whatever capacity you’ll give me.” 

Keith, presses his hand over Lance’s, leaning into it. “I will be,” he promises. He kisses Lance’s palm before sliding his tongue over calloused skin. He’s done talking. 

Lance whines and Keith does it again, slipping between Lance’s fingers before drawing two into his mouth. He sets the lube aside for now, focusing on bobbing his head slowly while he holds Lance’s wrist. He relaxes his jaw, letting Lance press down on his tongue, pulling back shallowly. 

Saliva coats his fingers as he slowly works to press them down the back of Keith’s throat. Keith’s hand releases Lance’s wrist, dropping to slide over his thigh instead, teasing touches over sensitive skin. 

When Lance pulls back to let Keith breathe before slipping down his throat again, Keith grips his cock firmly. Lance’s fingers spasm in Keith’s throat and Lance’s eyes roll back with a keen. His hips jerk into the air, into Keith’s fist. Keith bobs his head again, encouraging Lance to shallowly fuck his mouth. 

Keith never looks away, even as saliva drips from his chin, the wet sounds of Lance’s fingers in his mouth filling the air. He pumps Lance’s cock in time with the motion of Lance’s fingers, keeping pace with him. An unspoken promise of what’s to come. 

It doesn’t take much to bring Lance to the edge. It’s been so long since anyone touched him. Keith rolls his balls in one hand, pressing up behind them before Lance’s cock twitches and he’s spilling across his stomach with a groan. 

Keith pulls off Lance’s fingers, his throat sore and pants shallowly. He wipes his chin as Lance goes boneless in the bed. 

“Didn’t even get to fuck me,” he whines. The disappointed sound in his voice makes Keith’s cock twitch where it’s still trapped inside his undersuit.

“Oh sweetheart,” Keith murmurs and his voice comes out rough. The tone has Lance’s eyes flicking open. “What makes you think we’re done?”

Lance's eyes are dark, tears already wetting his temples. He doesn’t know if he’s terrified or turned on. 

Keith’s fingers stroke teasingly over Lance’s cock and it gives an interested twitch. Lance groans. Turned on it is. 

Keith strips down to the waist, sweat beading along his skin and settles between Lance’s knees, his hands stroking over his legs. There are dark bruises there Keith doesn’t understand. He presses tender kisses to them before pressing his thumb into one. Lance whines and Keith’s hand slides over the tender skin on the inside of his thigh. 

Warm breath washes over Lance’s cock and Keith’s tongue flicks out to taste. Lance’s hips twitch, pressing into the air, seeking friction already. 

Keith lavishes attention along Lance’s thighs, popping the cap of the lube to slick his fingers. He drags his lips along the length of Lance’s cock to the head, flattening it against Lance’s stomach. 

He sucks him back to hardness, Lance squirming the entire time in oversensitivity. His hands keep settling into and out of Keith’s hair, like he can’t decide whether to pull him in or push him away. 

While he makes up his mind Keith’s fingers slide over Lance’s hole. His hips stutter up into Keith’s mouth with a needy little sound and Keith rides the motion, trying not to choke. He presses one finger inside him, groaning at the heat that pulls at the digit. He takes Lance deeper down his throat as he pumps his finger, stroking along Lance’s inner walls. 

Lance squirms and whines, his body undulating beneath Keith, pressing his finger deeper. Keith presses a second against his sensitive rim before withdrawing. He repeats the motion a number of times before pulling out completely. He pumps Lance’s cock, grip tight and merciless as he nips at Lance’s thigh. He works the spot over and over until blood is rushing to the surface, darkening the skin. 

The bites are anything but gentle, the pain overwhelming. Every time Lance’s erection starts to flag Keith goes back to stroking him or sucking on the head of his cock while he fingers him. 

Lance is flushed down to his chest when Keith looks up, his lips spit-slick and red. They’re both damp with sweat and Keith presses his fingers into Lance’s prostate. He’s so close to where Keith needs him. He’s covered in angry red and purple bruises in the shape of Keith’s mouth and a possessive hunger claws at Keith’s stomach. 

He works Lance over mercilessly, spreading him open. Lance shudders, the only warning Keith gets. 

He turns his head and sinks his teeth into Lance’s thigh hard enough to leave indentations behind. He’s so close to breaking the skin he can feel it.

Lance wails, his body spasming as he cums. His entire body curls upward, enveloping Keith. 

Nails scrape over Keith’s back, the skin peeling away and leaving stinging welts behind to match the set he’d given Lance. Keith puts his mouth on him again, swallowing him down as his cock twitches.

Lance shudders, muscles locked tight as the second orgasm is wrung from him. Keith never pulls back, holding his breath with his nose pressed flat to Lance’s stomach. He swallows around him until Lance is finished and once more for good measure. 

Lance finally collapses to the bed, body twitching out of his control. 

Keith slowly releases him, strings of saliva spilling from his mouth as Lance’s cock flops back to his stomach. 

Keith swallows thickly and wipes at his mouth, his throat terribly sore. He turns his attention back to the worst of the marks on Lance’s inner thigh, slicking his tongue over the mark as blood rushes to the wound. It’s already beginning to swell. 

“Good boy,” Keith whispers. “You did so good.” His own erection throbs and twitches, desperate for attention. He’s painfully hard but he won’t let himself feel relief until Lance is sated. 

“We’re so close,” he whispers against the bruise. “One more. Just one more.”

“Keith…” Lance blinks tears away, his body shaking. 

Keith hasn’t pulled his fingers free but he’s lightened the pressure, stroking gently over Lance’s prostate in the afterglow. 

Lance’s cock is angry and raw. Keith presses a kiss to the head. 

“Please,” Lance whimpers. 

Keith finally has mercy on him and pulls his fingers free. Lance feels bereft without him but for the moment he’s content to let Keith be gentle. 

His hands slide over Lance’s body, between the shadows of his ribs, the too narrow dip of his waist, the sharp angles of his hips. Keith’s heart hurts for all he’s been though. He does his best to chase away the pain in the interim, to replace it with pleasure while he can. The hickeys he leaves all along Lance’s chest and throat are soft and warm and he takes his time leaving them behind.

Slowly Lance’s breathing steadies, his hands no longer shaking when they touch Keith, fingers threading through Keith’s hair with breathless moans. 

Once he’s deemed him suitably recovered Keith grins against Lance’s skin, hips rocking down against Lance’s thigh. The friction is deliciously sweet and he shudders, dropping his head. He loses himself in the motion, in chasing the high of his own pleasure until Lance’s hands skim down his back, yanking at the material still covering his hips. His fingers dig into the flesh of Keith’s ass, dragging over his skin as he pulls the suit down.

Keith groans, helping Lance shove it aside until his cock is free.

“Fuck,” he gasps as the cold air hits him. Lance is already reaching for him but Keith pins his wrist to the bed. 

“I wasn’t finished,” he growls. “Behave.” 

Lance whines and bites his lip but keeps his hands to himself as Keith lets him go. 

Keith rewards him with a kiss as his hand works its way back between Lance’s legs. He takes his time to coat his fingers in lube again, sliding them back and forth over Lance’s rim. It flutters against him, trying to pull him deeper. Keith is happy to oblige. 

“Ready?”

Lance’s breath shallows in anticipation. “Yes.”

“Mmm.” He presses a kiss to Lance’s ear. “Good,” he purrs. “Wanna taste you.” 

Lance whines, letting Keith coax him into rolling over. His mouth waters as he spreads Lance, finally pressing the heat of his tongue to the space his fingers had been preoccupying. 

Lance spasms and whines, bucking back into Keith’s mouth, fingers curling into the sheet. 

Keith laps at the wet heat, sinking his tongue inside of Lance, feeling him tighten, to try and draw Keith further in. 

Lance’s body rocks, fucking himself on Keith’s tongue, against his mouth and Keith grins. He presses both thumbs into Lance, spreading him open and just staring. 

Lance whines, pawing at the sheets. 

“Keith…” He gasps, searching out friction for his abused cock, trying to rock into the mattress but Keith won’t let him. 

“No, not yet baby. Don’t you wanna cum on my cock?” he whispers. 

Lance whines and cries as Keith holds him open, pressing his tongue into the heat of him. He nods, cheek presses to the sheet, damp hair tangling across his forehead. 

“Yeah,” Keith murmurs. “I know you do.” He presses the words into Lance’s skin. 

Keith fucks him with his tongue until his jaw aches and his face is slick with it, Lance spread out and sobbing beneath him. 

Keith gives him one last good swipe before pulling away. Lance sags with relief as Keith lines himself up. His cock strokes over Lance’s sensitive hole as he rocks his hips, catching along the rim but not pressing inside. 

Lance reaches back for him, his hand shaking. 

“Shh. I know baby, I know.” He shuffles closer and finally, _ finally _ presses inside. 

The breath is punched out of Lance in spite of how gently Keith slides into him. He’s tight and hot and the way he clenches down around Keith is heaven. They both groan in unison as Keith grinds against him. 

“Fuck, Lance.” He pulls back far enough to snap his hips forward, forcing the air from Lance as he sets a brutal pace. The cot rocks and squeals and Keith growls. He yanks Lance to the edge of the bed, dragging him by the hips until he can stand firmly on the ground, the metal biting cold against his feet. It gives him the leverage he needs to fuck Lance until he’s sobbing. 

He claws at the bed, Keith’s hand in the middle of his back, shoving him down. He takes what he needs, using Lance’s body just the way they both want. He strikes him hard across the ass, the skin turning red beneath the impact. Keith’s hand stings with it. Lance makes a gutter groan, his body jerking with every impact.

Lance wails and sobs but never once begs him to stop so Keith doesn’t. He fucks Lance until his thighs burn and sweat drips into his eyes. He slaps him across the ass until his hand is numb and Lance’s cheeks are mottled red. He fucks him until Lance is begging to cum. And then Keith stops dead. He folds himself over Lance’s exhausted body, presses flush, leaning down to meet his ear. 

Lance shivers, breathing heavily as Keith’s fingers ghost over the head of Lance’s cock. 

“Then cum for me.” He sinks his teeth into Lance’s shoulder and Lance cums with a scream. 


	29. My Heart is Yours- Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally get some soft and time to talk.

By the time they’re done Lance is a bruised, sobbing mess. His body spasms and twitches where he lies face down on the mattress.

Keith had meant to pull out but when Lance clenched down on him his orgasm had blindsided him before he could. His hips stuttering mindlessly in little motions, trying to press deeper. 

He finally pulls away, sweat dripping from his hair. 

His eyes focus just in time to see his own cum dripping down over Lance’s balls from his gaping hole. Keith barely resists the urge to press three fingers back into Lance and feel where he’s spilled inside of him. Instead he falls back onto his heels where he’s crawled onto the mattress behind Lance, his legs nearly cramping as he does. 

There is not an inch of him Keith hasn’t touched, hasn’t bruised. His ass is red, pulsing with heat. The hickeys along his throat throb, his nipples swollen and tender. 

Keith runs a hand over the nail marks he’s left along Lance’s back, matching a set of his own. 

There are a few bite marks, deep enough Keith has left indents behind. He runs his fingers over them gently, wincing in sympathy. 

Lance lets out a contented sigh. His body is exhausted and aching in all the right ways. He smiles as Keith presses a kiss to his sweaty hair. 

“You did so good, Lance,” he whispers. 

All Lance can manage is a pleased groan. Keith gently maneuvers him into a more comfortable position so he’s lying on his side. 

“Gonna clean you up.”

Lance whines. “No,” he mumbles, reaching for Keith’s hand. His arm feels detached from his body, pawing uselessly at the air. 

“Sweetheart, you’re a mess.” 

“Don’t care.” He tugs weakly at Keith, trying to pull him into bed. “Later.” 

Keith kisses his temple. He’s exhausted. His thighs are burning and the last thing he wants is to stand. 

“Alright.” He takes the soiled sheet, wiping Lance down as best he can before tossing it on the floor. The air is hot and thick, warm enough for them both to be comfortable without it.

Keith slips into bed next to Lance, enveloping him in a tangle of limbs. The bruises to his throat are dark and painful looking. Keith wonders if he’s gone too far. 

His fingers stroke over one of the hickeys. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs. 

Lance hums, already half asleep.

“‘s good,” he mumbles, tangling their fingers together. “’s good.”

Keith smiles before settling, falling asleep with Lance in his arms where he belongs. 

~

To Keith’s surprise he’s not the first to wake. He finds the cot cold and empty, something like disappointment blooming in his chest. He’d looked forward to waking up next to Lance. 

He knows they’d talked about being more than friends but waking up alone hurts. It makes him feel like a cheap fuck. 

The scratches all down his back sting. 

He swallows back the shame and pulls on the undersuit of his uniform, tying the sleeves around his waist before climbing out of Blue. 

The wildlife chirps and chitters, insects buzzing to greet him. In spite of the oppressive underbrush curling all around him the air is cool this early in the day and he takes a deep breath. 

The inside of the cabin still smells thick with sex and Keith needs the fresh air. 

His body aches after last night and he climbs carefully to the jungle floor. 

Lance can’t have gone far. Both his undersuit and the armor are still there and Keith had fucked him hard enough to make walking less than enjoyable. Keith wants to find him and maybe a place to bathe. He feels gross and his body aches. Maybe there’s fresh water around somewhere. 

He doesn’t have to go far. Between a crag in a boulder split apart by vines Keith finds a pool, Lance sitting on the edge of it. Water bubbles up out of the ground, rippling the surface and a lance realizes it’s a spring with the clearest water he’s ever seen. 

The area is heavily shaded by the trees and vines, bathing half of it in darkness. 

Halfway down the jungle opens up over a cliff into the sun, water spilling down over the edge and into open air, leaving a stunning view of the valley below. Light catches on the mist, shattering into a rainbow that shifts and bends with the wind before vanishing. 

Lance is sitting on a slab of dark stone, his feet in the water. He’s wearing nothing but sunlight and shadow and if it weren’t for the dark bruises marring his body he’d be beautiful. He still is. But Keith would rather have him healthy and whole. 

Keith watches as Lance slowly lowers his leg into the water, one hand under his thigh to help support it. There’s a dark purple ring around both his thighs and a matching set on his calves, the kind Keith has only seen from a fall in the shower. He remembers kissing them last night, too preoccupied to ask how he’d gotten them. 

There are others too, scattered across his arms and chest, interspersed between all the ones Keith has left on him. He looks like someone beat the hell out of him and Keith winces. 

Lance looks up, sensing Keith’s eyes on him and smiles. “Hey. Could you pass me some of the uh…” He snaps his fingers trying to find the word. “Damn it, what is it called,” he mumbles. “The red looking aloe plant? Can you bring me some of that? It hurts to walk.”

Keith looks around and then spots the low growing plant, snapping off a leaf and carrying it over. He averts his eyes and it takes Lance a moment to realize why as he takes the leaf. 

“Sorry, do you want me to-?” He makes a gesture as if to cover up but Keith shakes his head and sits down next to him. He feels awkward. 

“No, don’t worry about it.” His cheeks are red and he still has trouble meeting Lance’s eyes. 

“Sorry,” Lance says again, working some of the gel from the plant onto his legs. “After six months of having no one else around you kind of stop caring about being naked. And those suits don’t really breathe.” He gently works the gel into the throbbing bruises as it warms and Keith watches. “At least I think it’s been six months,” he mumbles, a furrow between his brows. “I’ve kind of lost track of time out here. Haven’t bothered looking it up. I know the suit keeps track of it but...” He trails off. 

The bruise to his inner thigh is black and red and painfully swollen. 

“How did you get those?” Keith asks, Lance gently massaging the aching muscles. 

“Hit the ground from sixty feet up.” He says it so casually, like such a thing is a regular occurance and not something that could have killed him. 

Keith’s eyes widen and he stares at Lance. “What?”

Lance huffs and it sounds almost like a laugh. “Yeah. The stilts took most of the impact but the supports around my calves and thighs from the armor can only absorb and disperse impact so well. 

“I didn't break anything but it still hurt like hell. It’s an imperfect system.” He shrugs. “Pretty sure I’m anemic too.” He holds out an arm, examining a dark bruise. “I’m bruising like a motherfucker.” 

All the marks Keith had left behind are a deep purple, darker than they should be. He resists the urge to reach out and touch one. 

“When did this happen?” he asks instead. 

“My legs?” Lance blinks, staring up at the canopy in thought. “Uhhh two cycles ago? I may have forgotten that the jets on the armor overheat after extended use. They gave out on me while I was carrying supplies up a cliff. 

“I was mid-descent when they gave out.” He shrugs casually, like he hadn’t almost gotten himself killed. “Could have been worse.” 

“Doesn’t look like it.” The bruises are near black, even now with time to heal. 

Lance laughs and it’s breathless and tired but even his eyes are smiling when he looks at Keith. 

“Yeah well, shit happens.” 

Keith can’t help staring at that spark of light in Lance’s smile. It’s a hard juxtaposition to how bad Lance looks. He’s in one piece, sure but he’s wan and thin. He seems tired all the time, like he’s carrying a weight around his shoulders Keith can’t pull away. Any kind of exertion leaves him short of breath more quickly than it should and he’s probably malnourished. 

There are dark shadows under his eyes and he’s too damn thin. 

In spite of Lance’s bravado Keith knows he’s falling apart. His seams are all frayed, patched and threadbare, just like the undersuit of his paladin armor that he still wears inside the new armor. 

He’s pale, more so than Keith has ever seen him. It reminds him of a wilting flower. All Keith wants to do is carry him out into the sun and watch him bloom, to help him heal. 

He looks away at the thought, staring at the mottled sunlight dancing across the stones and water. 

“You’ll be out of here soon. I promise.” He drags his eyes back to Lance like he can’t help it, like if he looks away for too long Lance will disappear. “I’m gonna get you home.” 

Lance smiles and Keith sees tears in his eyes. 

“I’ve heard that one before,” he teases. Back when home meant Earth and not the Castle of Lions. 

Keith bristles. “I meant it then and I mean it now.”

Years seem to settle around Lance's eyes and he turns to look out at the water, expression somber. 

“Good.” He lapses into thoughtful silence, thinking about things Keith can’t begin to guess at. Lance sinks into the water with a groan, movements slow and pained but eventually he settles. 

“We ever gonna talk about that kiss?” He tips his head to the side and looks at Keith. “And everything after?” There’s a playful smile on his lips. “Or are you gonna keep sitting there like regret personified?”

Keith blushes. “I’m sorry.” 

Lance’s gaze is steady, voice flat, blunt. “Was kind of hoping you’d do it again.” 

Keith’s eyebrows lift and he feels his cheeks warm. “Seriously?”

Lance shrugs. “I missed you too. And we talked about this.” He meets Keith’s eyes, not boldly but like he’s too tired to play games. 

“I didn’t want it to be anyone else but you,” he admits. “Not then, not now.” He takes Keith's hand. “I  _ missed _ you.” He gives it a tug. “Now will you please come here? I need some attention and aftercare after last night.” A smile pulls at his mouth and his eyes sparkle. “Come play doctor.” 

Keith laughs, the tension rolling from his shoulders. 

“Alright,” he relents. “But then you get to help me with those bloody gouges you left all over my back.” 

He strips out of his suit and slips into the water next to Lance. 

“Deal.”


	30. My Heart is Yours- Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith takes Lance to the Blades who may be able to help.

Once Lance is back on his feet and Keith has given him the attention he deserves, Keith guides them back to the rest of the Blades. They’ve set up camp in a small gully, half hidden beneath the jungle. Lance only finds it thanks to his filters. The adaptive camouflage nets over everything render it all but invisible. 

Keith radios in ahead of time so they don’t get shot out of the sky before making the rest of the trip on foot. 

Lance makes note of the figures hiding in the trees, Keith watching him. 

“What are you looking at?” he asks softly. 

That strange helmet turns towards him. _ “You can’t see them?” _

Keith’s eyebrows lift in surprise. He hasn’t bothered putting his helmet back on. This close to camp he can only assume they’re Blades. At least he hopes so.

_ “Blades by the look of them.” _ Lance flips filters and the shapes darken, revealing the familiar lines of their armor in spite of the foliage. _ “Yup, Blades. Safe to say they know we’re here. _”

“You can see them?” Keith doesn’t bother trying to keep the surprise out of his voice.

Lance taps his helmet. _ “Filters, thanks to Blue. Let me see everything from radiation to quintessence, heat, and uv. There’s nothing on this planet I _ can’t _ see.” _

Keith shakes his head slowly. “We didn’t know that. If we had…”

Lance isn’t sure he likes the way Keith trails off. _ “If you had...what?” _

Keith rubs his thumb over the side of his hand. “We probably would have shot first, asked questions later.” He keeps his eyes straight ahead. “There were more than a few voices demanding to have the mech,” he gestures at Lance, “you, taken apart and repurposed. We thought it was just a machine.” He finally looks up, wishing he could see Lance’s eyes, wearing a cloak of guilt that doesn’t suit him. “I’m glad it was you.” 

Lance’s heat filter catches the warmth blooming on Keith’s cheeks, clocks the speed of his heart rate off to one side. He switches filters so he can see Keith, his visor catching a screen shot of him in that moment. He looks softer than Lance can remember ever seeing him. 

He reaches out and brushes Keith’s bangs away from his face with a metal finger, more gently than Keith thought possible. 

_ “Me too. _” 

Keith smiles and Lance lets his hand fall. _ “Come on, they’re waiting.” _

~

Keith leads Lance into their camp, a number of the Blades posturing and hissing. Lance rolls his eyes. He’s done nothing but help the people here, however distant that help might have been. He doesn’t know why they’re so angry. 

Thace is waiting outside the largest tent, arms crossed over his chest and scowling. At least Lance thinks he’s scowling. With the Galra it’s hard to tell. 

Ulaz is lounging on a crate, looking far more relaxed and playful. Lance vaguely remembers him as the one who’d gotten Shiro home. He thought he’d died in the endeavor. Apparently he was wrong. 

“Who’s your friend?”

Keith smiles. “You remember the Blue Paladin of Voltron?” He turns his face up to Lance, practically beaming with pride. “This is Lance.” 

Ulaz looks surprised, rising slowly. “The one who’d vanished?”

Keith nods and Lance can see the way he swallows. “Yeah.” His voice still comes out thick. “I finally found him.” 

Ulaz stares openly, glancing between Lance to Keith and back again. “I thought…” He trails off and doesn’t finish. 

Ulaz comes to stand in front of them, hands on his hips, shaking off whatever dark thoughts he’d been having. “So you’re the one causing all the trouble.” He tips his head thoughtfully. “Where’s your lion?” He looks between Keith and Thace. “We only heard about the mech. If the Blue lion were here we’d know about it.”

_ “Hiding.” _ Lance offers no more information than that, a pilfered Galran rifle cradled in his arms. 

Thace nods sharply. “Good.” He turns on his heel. “Then pack up, we report back to Kolivan-”

“I’m not going back.” Keith cuts him off and Lance watches the tension in Thace’s shoulders as the muscles bunch. Lance tenses, energy rippling down his arm in warning. 

Thace turns back to face them.

“What about the mission,” Thace growls and Keith bristles at the motto. Mission before the individual. He understands it in theory, but now...now it sounds like bullshit. 

“Lance was always my mission.”

Thace narrows his eyes. He looks ready to argue but Ulaz touches his arm briefly. After a moment Thace looks away from Keith, meeting Ulaz’s gaze. 

“It is his _ vao,_” Ulaz says softly. “You know what it is like to be separated from them.” Thace’s ear twitches as they hold eye contact. “Let the kit go.” His hand squeezes Thace’s arm. Lance’s eyes track the movement. “They have been separated long enough.”

He turns a kind smile on Keith. “If we need him, he’ll be back.” 

Keith blushes again at the descriptor but doesn't deny it. “You know where to find me.” 

Lance stands at his back, tall and silent. His helmet auto-translates the word off to one side of the screen. There’s not quite an equivalent for it in English, but the variants that appear lead Lance to believe it means something like partner or soulmate. It makes him blush under the helmet, heart skipping in his chest. It’s the most alive he’s felt in months. 

Thace’s posture finally softens and he turns away from Ulaz to face them. His expression is almost warm compared to the cool detachment from before.

“What do you need?”


	31. My Heart is Yours- Chapter 6

Lance explains a bit of what’s going on with Blue and how vulnerable she is right now while the others pack up camp. Thace relays the information to Kolivan who promises it will reach Voltron. In the meantime the Blades will do what they can to rig up a way to help charge Blue’s heart crystal. It won’t be a permanent fix. The entire thing will need to be replaced eventually, but it should be enough to get her back to the castle once they open a wormhole. 

They’re mid conversation when there’s a shout from outside the tent. Moments later laser fire is raining down on the camp. 

The ground explodes around them, Lance throwing up a shield and tossing Thace to the ground. He takes a number of hits both from the fire and thrown shrapnel before the ships scream past overhead. 

Lance shoves the fallen rubble aside, helping Thace to his feet. Dust clouds his vision and he snaps through filters, fear gripping him by the throat.

_ “Keith!” _

“I’m here.” He’s by Lance’s side in moments and Lance wheels around, tracking the path of the ships. 

A secondary squadron is headed through the atmosphere and his heart leaps into his throat. His helmet predicts their trajectory and his stomach bottoms out. 

_ “Blue…” _

“How? No one’s been able to find her.”

_ “They must have been tracking me, _ ” Lance snaps. _ “I have to get to her.” _

“I’m coming with you.” Keith latches onto his arm before he can run. 

Ulaz skids to a stop next to them. “But what about her core? The crystal is broken. If you try to force it you could split it permanently. You said so yourself.”

_ “I have to try!” _ He hauls Keith up in his arms. _ “Get your people out of here. They’re here for me.” _ He doesn’t wait for an answer before he’s sprinting through the jungle.

~

They take fire a number of times but Lance is hard to hit. There’s nothing Keith can do but hold on as Lance races between the trees at breakneck speed. He’s shot out of the air as they finally reach the platform Blue is hiding on. The impact throws Lance into the stone before his engine burns out and he starts to fall. 

"Fuck_ !” _ He digs his hands into the rock, leaping forward and doing it again, like a spider on a wall. Keith clings to him as Lance struggles upwards. Soldiers scramble to the edge of the cliff, raining fire down on top of them. 

“Throw me!”

Lance doesn’t hesitate, he doesn’t argue, he doesn’t ask why. He trusts Keith knows what he’s doing as he grabs him, launching Keith up into the air. His body twists and rotates as he comes down, drawing his luxite blade. 

Chaos explodes around him, giving Lance the freedom to make it the rest of the way to the top. 

A wave of soldiers is waiting for them, turning and racing to engage as Keith dispatches the last of the ones trying to hold them back from the edge. 

Lance drags Keith out of the way as he releases the full fury of a storm into the mass. There are screams all around that suddenly fall silent, the bodies blackened and smoking, hitting the ground in half melted heaps as the energy in his arm discharges. 

The ship comes back around for another strafe and Lance shoves Keith towards Blue. 

_ "Go!” _ He shoots a spear of ice through the air that takes the ship straight through the cockpit. The pilot dies instantly, the ship tipping as it comes screaming through the air towards them. Lance turns and runs, kicking off a boulder as the ship impacts, skidding through the stone and foliage before crashing to a stop at the base of a tree. 

Lance leaps up through the vines, ripping them off as he goes, trying to get the heaviest of them away from Blue as he makes his way inside. The less she has to strain to get free, the better off they’ll be. 

Three more ships pepper the surface of the platform and it groans, beginning to splinter on the outer edges. Lance is forced inside, locking his feet into the platforms. He feels his energy connect to what’s left of Blue, vibrating through him. 

_ “Get in the pilot’s chair,” _ he snaps at where Keith is waiting for him.

Light races in patterns down Lance’s armor as he forces it from himself and into Blue’s systems. 

“What are you doing!?” 

Blue groans as a shot impacts her side, obliterating vines and leaving deep scoring behind. 

_ “She gave me her heart now I’m giving her mine.” _ More power whirs through her and Keith can feel her mind flickering more fully awake. 

“Lance you can’t, it’ll kill you.” He takes Lance’s arm, like somehow he’ll be able to drag Lance away. “We never put together-”

Lance shakes him off. _ “If I don’t get her out of here we’re going to die and she needs power. _

_ “Don’t you dare tell me to leave her behind. I’d die for her as surely as I would for you now get in the fucking chair!” _He shoves Keith towards the front of the cabin which is still sitting sideways.

“What!? She isn’t mine! I can’t fly her!”

“_You don’t have to, I just need a body on the controls. Look, just do it!” _ He doesn’t have time to explain how he knows Keith can fly Blue, he just _ does _. 

Blue shudders, her body groaning as her interior begins to shift upright. Lance feels his own body strain at the effort and lets out a shout of effort, laser fire impacting her side. The ground is beginning to shake beneath them. 

There’s no time to explain. Lance is beginning to glow, energy rippling out of him and into the plates of Blue’s body as she grinds to life. 

She stands on shaking feet as Keith clamours into the pilot’s chair, strapping himself in. The motion knocks him sideways as gravity shifts. She doesn’t have the power to dampen her movements the way she normally would and he can feel a deep bruise forming on his side. 

Keith’s Blade helmet snaps shut and he grips at the controls as they flicker to life. She purrs weakly under his hands in greeting. 

_ “Hey sweetheart,” _ he murmurs, _ “glad to have you back. Hang in there.” _ He’d missed her almost as much as he’d missed Lance. So had Red. 

Lance slips into her consciousness, eyes whiting over as he opens his heart, pouring his energy into her. He can see and feel everything as she comes awake, the weight of the vines still hanging over them, the heavy impacts of the enemy ships that get through the Blade’s defenses as they fight to keep them back, the stone breaking apart beneath her feet. 

Lance tunes it out as Blue stands, shaking off the growth. He reaches for calm and extends his awareness to Keith. Part of them settles over Keith in the chair, guiding him like a ghost imprint in his mind, helping him move while Lance’s body is still in the back. They make it into the atmosphere as Lance struggles to hang on. There’s no atmosphere in the cabin as they reach open space. Lance is fading fast, Keith can feel it, breaching the atmosphere took what energy they had.

“Hang on,” Keith murmurs, talking to both Lance and Blue, “we’re almost there.” 

Lance’s presence in his mind flickers. _ Hurry. _

Keith prays Voltron is close by or that the Blades have some way of anchoring her like space junk. They’re about to be dead in the water. 

“Come on Blue, hang in there.” There’s a blip on the far edge of his screens before the cabin goes dark. 

~

Keith detaches from the chair as Blue’s thread of awareness snaps inside his head like a severed bowstring. It leaves him bereft and for a moment he has to fight back the blind fear at the sudden loss. It’s disorienting.

Lance is unconscious inside the suit and unresponsive as Keith calls for him. 

“Lance.” He jets forward, bumping into Lance’s chest as he comes to a stop. The mechanisms locking his armor in place are the only thing keeping him from floating off. The only comfort Keith can take is the faint sound of him breathing inside the helmet.

Before panic can fully set in there’s a deafening roar that sends Keith’s heart soaring. He’d recognize that sound anywhere.

He extends his consciousness to Red who lets out another deafening roar, all protective rage. Keith loops one arm around Lance’s shoulders, a blinding searchlight cutting through the hole in Blue’s side as Red comes to a stop beside them. She takes the worst of the fire from the little ships harrying them. They’re gone in a blast of heat moments later and relief settles over Keith. His forehead tips into Lance’s.

“Hold on Lance, we’re almost home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand that's all I got.


	32. Heartbroken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lion switch leaves Lance's heart broken. Keith is the only one who understands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flangst  
Emotional Hurt/Comfort   
Reassurance

“Does it hurt?” Lance asks, hand fluttering over his chest where Blue had made herself at home, the warmth and comfort of her now cold and aching and gone. He feels the shard of Red’s consciousness near it, so hot in his chest it burns. Lance flinches away from it. He’s never known what to do with fire. 

He finally looks up at Keith, desperate for someone to understand the yawning void inside him.

“When you had to give up Red,” he clarifies, fingers curling in the fabric of his shirt over his heart. He can’t make it stop. “Does it still hurt?” He doesn’t mean to cry but the wound is still fresh and aches, bone-deep and all-consuming. It’s hard to ignore. 

Keith’s eyes are sad. “Yes.”

Lance drops his head, hating himself. “I can’t even look at her.” He scrubs the heel of a hand over his cheek, wiping away tears he hadn’t meant to cry. “God, it’s like going through the worst breakup of my life. She’s still _ there _ .” He presses his fist harder over his heart. “I can still feel her and it makes it that much harder.” 

Keith’s fingers touch Lance’s arm, awkward and unsure but wanting to comfort. 

“I know.” His expression flickers like he’s struggling to find what it is he wants to say. “I feel like...someone cut me open. Seared my insides to charcoal, heat still glowing between the cracks.” His voice wavers. “And then struck me with lightning that curled up inside my chest and refused to leave.” His grip on Lance’s arm tightens. “And it hurts,” he admits, voice soft with pain. 

“And it’s not the same and Black can’t fill that void Red left behind because they don’t fit the same. And I feel like I’m never going to be good enough or worthy of her and it hurts.” 

Lance’s face crumples and he leans into Keith’s hand without realizing it. 

“I don’t know what to do,” he chokes, both hands pressing down over the gaping wound in his chest that he can’t fill. “I don’t know how to make it stop.” And no one else understands.

Keith steps into Lance, wrapping both arms around him. 

“You have to let her in.”

Lance shakes his head fiercely, tears wetting Keith’s collar. “I can’t.” He trembles, hands pressed tight between them. “I’m scared. I don’t want to be hurt again.” 

Keith tucks his cheek against Lance’s. “I know. But it’s the only way.” He presses a hand to Lance’s hair. “Let her help.”

“I’m scared,” he says again, soft and weak and Keith holds him tighter. 

“I know.”

“She’s angry.” 

Keith pulls away and it takes Lance a moment to lift his head. 

“She is?”

Lance nods, swiping at his face. “Yeah.” He takes a breath and Keith can hear it rattle. “I can’t tell at who, but she’s mad. All the time.” He shudders, arms looping around himself. “She scares me.”

Keith smiles wryly. “She doesn’t do change.”

Lance snorts. “Apparently.” 

“Be patient with her,” Keith says softly. “Her heart is broken too.”

Lance startles and looks at him in surprise. “It is?”

Keith nods. “So is Black’s and Blue is probably hurting too. This wasn’t easy for any of us.” 

“Then why did it happen?” Lance sniffles. “That’s what I don’t understand. Why did it have to change? Allura’s amazing but she doesn’t…” He bites his lip like he doesn’t want to say it.

“She doesn’t fit?” Keith says softly.

“She’s just so headstrong and in control at all times. She always knows what to do. I thought Black would have chosen her.” He looks at Keith, visibly frustrated. “And I don’t mean that as an insult, I don’t. But it just-” He gestures irritably, head thumping onto Keith’s shoulder, startling him. 

“I feel like an asshole,” he mutters, a deep sigh slipping out of him and his shoulders sag. “And I don’t know who else to talk to.” Keith adjusts his arms around Lance, cradling him. “I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” Lance whispers. He sniffles but his tears have slowed. 

“I know,” Keith murmurs, stroking a hand down his back. “Be patient with her. She’s slow to trust but once you earn it, she’ll never let you down. Red will always be there when you need her,” he says softly. 

“Sounds like someone else I know.” 

Keith blushes. “Maybe,” he admits.

Lance lifts his head. “Not maybe. Yes,” Lance says firmly. “It’s why she chose you. Being with her now, I know how true that is. You don’t often let yourself trust and care for people but when you do, you’re ride or die. Literally." He searches Keith's eyes. 

"I know you’ll have my back through anything. You will always be there for me when I need you.” His legs strengthen under him until it feels like he’s the one holding Keith up. “And I’ll always be there for you. No matter what. Ride or die,” he says firmly and Keith blushes under the firm sincerity. 

“Guess we’re not so different after all,” he says and Lance smiles crookedly. 

“Guess not.” He squeezes Keith’s arms reassuringly, feeling better. “Thanks.”

“For what?”

Lance’s smile grows. “Helping me feel better.” He swipes at the year tracks on his face and takes his first steady breath. 

“Anytime,” he mumbles, dropping his hands and stepping away. Lance nods.

“Hey Keith?”

“Hmm?” 

“You can do this,” Lance says softly, firm but sure. “You can.” He holds Keith’s gaze. “And I’ve got your back,” he reassures. 

Keith believes him. For the first he thinks maybe Lance is right. That he can do this. 

“With you?” He nods. “Yeah, I can.”

Lance blushes all the way to his ears and Keith’s heart skips. He grins as Lance grows flustered. 

“Oh shut up.” He scowls, tucking his hands into his pockets, shoulders up. Keith can see the red burning all along the back of his neck as he scurries down the hall and away from Keith.

Keith watches him go, smile softening. 

“Thank you,” he whispers to the empty hall. 


End file.
